KYREN WILSON broke down in tears as he became the Master of snooker for the first time – six weeks after he came close to suffering a “mental breakdown”.
The Warrior came through an edgy and low-quality Masters final with John Higgins to prevail 10-6 at Ally Pally to bank £350,000 in prize money.
Having twice lost in the final before, including 12 months ago to Shaun Murphy, the world No2 finally added this Triple Crown event to his CV at the 11th attempt, and he was emotional in the final shots at the table.
It was on December 2, the day he lost in the first round of the UK Championship, that he told snooker fans they “were very close to seeing someone have a mental breakdown out there”.
He was raging that his cue had been damaged in the build-up to the event in York.
And he was extremely emotional as he spoke in a televised chat about the sacrifices he was making at the elite level to be away from his family.
Yet with a new cue in hand, this was one of the best days of his career as he halted the run of Scotland’s four-time world champion.
The afternoon session, which consisted of eight frames, was a scrappy affair and was briefly interrupted when a lady fell unwell and had to be escorted from the arena to seek medical attention.
Though Higgins managed to come away only 5-3 down, he still missed a number of balls that would have left him scratching his head in despair and frustration.
In fact both players throughout the day had their troubles with key shots, notably the black off its spot.
Wilson went into the evening session with a two-frame advantage thanks to back-to-back centuries – 103 and 111 – rare moments of quality in this otherwise tepid showdown.
Frame 11 was a memorable one, which was decided on the final pink after Wilson had missed his shot, and then Higgins prevailed in 38 minutes following a prolonged safety battle.
Wilson, 34, responded to that error by claiming frames 12, 13 and 14, the latter with a break of 78.
Though Higgins took frame 15 with a 70 break, his Northamptonshire rival – who had questioned his future during that infamous TV chat in Yorkshire – managed to get over the line in frame 16 with his parents watching on.
Despite saying in jest “I hate this game sometimes”, Wilson does not need to look back in anger on last month’s crisis as he succeeded in front of a 2,000-strong crowd in North London that included Oasis guitarist Gem Archer.
Higgins, 50, was aiming to become the oldest winner of a Triple Crown event.
But he will have to wait now until the Crucible starts in April before he can try to overtake Ronnie O’Sullivan’s old age record – the Rocket was 48 when he won the Masters two years ago.
