The Crucible Theatre is similar to one of the smallest, coziest venues in sports. It’s so close-knit that you can practically smell the players’ breath as they move around the snooker table. But as his dream turned into a nightmare here on this Sunday afternoon in Sheffield, Jak Jones must have felt like the most alone person on the earth.
Over the last two weeks, the Welshman has created history by being one of the select few qualifiers to make it to the World Snooker Championship final and by winning over a lot of people in the process. But after losing control of his first global final in the first session and witnessing his hopes nearly die, Jones is now in the history books for all the wrong reasons.
Maybe it was because Jones’ opponent here, Kyren Wilson, had already finished the job earlier in the day, and he had to play Stuart Bingham till late on Saturday night. Without a doubt, Jones was fatigued on Sunday afternoon—he had to play more snooker than Wilson for more than 20 hours in order to reach the final.
Wilson revealed in the lead-up to having had too much pizza and alcohol the night before losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2020 final, so it’s possible that his previous final experience helped him relax more quickly. But for whatever reason, this is the first time in nearly 20 years that two players are competing for a world crown.
It’s only the third time in the history of the Crucible that a player has won the first seven games. This year’s final already seems like it could end with plenty of time left thanks to a combination of nervous, tense play from Jones and some outstanding performance from Wilson. The only thing holding out for Jones? In order to prevent a whitewash of the session, he claimed the last frame of the afternoon.
There is yet room for change. Jones will need to approach the next three sessions as though they were brand-new. But only one man will win this final if Jones keeps struggling and Wilson performs well.
A break of 62 from Wilson was enough to claim frame five and already, it felt like Jones’ first session as a world finalist had gone into damage limitation mode. Mercifully for Jones, as he continued to struggle, Wilson sank further into a groove, with a break of 125 moving him six frames ahead.
The Crucible crowd erupted into applause that almost felt like it had a tinge of pity attached to it when Jones fluked the opening red of frame seven but yet again, the remainder of the frame followed a familiar pattern as Wilson got back in amongst the balls, secured a break of 90 and a 7-0 lead.
It seemed as though Jones’ first session as a global finalist had already slipped into damage limitation mode after Wilson’s break of 62 was sufficient to win frame five. Fortunately for Jones, Wilson found more of a flow as he struggled on, pulling ahead by six frames at a break of 125.
When Jones misplayed the initial red of frame seven, the Crucible crowd erupted in adulation that seemed almost pitiful. However, the rest of the frame followed a familiar pattern as Wilson went back in between the balls and secured a break of 90 and a 7-0 lead.
Jones needed to hold onto something that approximated optimism, no matter how tenuous. With a 65-point break to prevent a session whitewash, he grabbed it and the biggest applause of the afternoon. His fist pumping upon securing the frame demonstrated his awareness of what an 8-0 deficit would have meant.
The aforementioned historical texts provide Jones with some solace, if any. The only other two players to trail 6-0 after the first seven frames of a Crucible final were Dennis Taylor in 1985 (who fell 8-0 behind) and Jimmy White in 1991 (who lost to John Parrott in the end).
We are all aware of the events of that year. Jones could duplicate something that was even slightly similar, so it
