Jones won 5-4 in the evening session, but there is still a palpable sense of missed big chances, and he resumes at 1pm on Monday with an 11-6 lead in the race to 18 frames. It turns out.
Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry, who was commentating on the BBC, said: “With the loss of that frame, it’s easy to think that his world championship is gone. is big,” he said. “The first two frames on Monday are a monster. After the afternoon session, it was dead, but he brought it back to life.”
Jones, who enjoyed a fairytale run to the final with wins over Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham, believes he still has the potential for the greatest comeback in Crucible history.
“It’s a miracle I’m still in it,” he said. “I made a shocking play, really shocking. I’m just exhausted, absolutely exhausted. If I had gotten a good night’s sleep last night, things might have been different.”
Dennis Taylor and Jimmy White are the only players to lead 7-0 in the finals, with Taylor making a memorable comeback from 8-0 down in 1985 to defeat Steve Davis 18-17. However, that was after cutting the lead to nine points overnight. -7.
Wilson lost to Ronnie O’Sullivan in his only final appearance in 2020, but has been in the top 10 in the world for nearly the past five years.
Jones, ranked 44th in the world, needed to win two qualifying matches to advance to the Crucible, but during the tournament he was unhappy with some reactions to his surprise appearance in the final.
Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Bingham said that although they were good tactically, it was difficult to find a rhythm against a player whose shooting time was the second slowest in this year’s main tournament. Jones also only made two century breaks en route to snooker’s big show, compared to the other semi-finalists’ total of 24, but there is more to this game than just scoring in large numbers. proved.
“That seems to be the excuse players often use against me,” Jones said. “They’re supposed to be the best players in the world, but they’re complaining that they’ve fallen out of their rhythm. They can’t accept that. It’s really pathetic, isn’t it?”
Jones was also criticized by six-time world champion Steve Davis for not heading straight to the practice bench during the afternoon interval after losing the first four frames.
“He’s sitting in a chair,” Davis said. “Why don’t you go to the practice bench?” For me, that’s a no-brainer. ”
Hendry also gave a candid assessment of the overall standard of the tournament amid talk of quadrupling the £500,000 prize money by moving the event to Saudi Arabia or China. “Without a true top player, the new world number one” [Mark Allen]Ronnie, Judd, [Mark] selby [Mark] Williams, players who have taken the snooker world by storm over the past few years… [to have] “Everything was incredible in the final stages,” he said.