World Snooker Championship recap – Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones level after Kyren Wilson and David Gilbert split session

That was great! Both our semis end their first dig all-square, fluctuating, dramatic sessions of high class – with so much more to come tomorrow. I can’t wait, so join us at 9.45am GMT for the continuation of Kyren Wilson 4-4 Dave Gilbert.

Jak looked nervous a the start and that makes perfect sense, but he’s playing with confidence now, carefully manoeuvring around the table until the frame is secure.

If Jak gets out of this 4-4 he’ll have done well, and as he picks off loose balls with pinks, he looks like he might. He’ll have to break the pack again, and the shots are getting harder – he comes off blue and side, and is he on one? Just, sneaking past the pink with a touch of side. He’s in a really good position now.

He cannot, directing a black into the jaw of middle and pointing at the spot as he did when doing similarly against Ronnie last evening. So Jack sinks a starter, lamps down a blue, and there are points out there for him.

Final frame of the night and poor shot from Stuart flukes an awkward situation for Jak, dead close to the only red he can hit; he miscues, is horrified by his behaviour, and Stuart gets away. He’d not have taken 5-3 when about to make it 4-0, but when it was about to go 3-4, he’d have done anything for it. Can he make contribution a telling one?

This has been another compelling session, and we’ve one frame still to come; whatever happens in it, it feels like this could go long.

Stuart carefully closes, the trickiest red a little off the side. He leaves it till last then sends a black to right corner and looks to get in behind it … not bad. He can shove it to the same bag, he’ll be on something, and opts for the blue, thereby decluttering baulk.This’ll be a really good clearance if he can pull it off.

Jack’s playing the better safety now – he was good in that department earlier on, he just wasn’t potting – and it earns him a chance. But a loose white leaves a horrible blue to the yellow, he can’t sink it … but can Stuart stop the rot at three on the spin? He’s out of his chair at pace, this visit a crucial one with the balls there for him more or less.

Jak guides a lovely red to middle and follows it with a cut-back black, but he’s chasing so has to play safe. With a decent lead, it must be said, but when he leaves a red over the pocket and misses a snooker, just, Stuart has a chance to counter having not potted for over half an hour. But oh dear me, he sticks himself to the pink, and with reds all over and one in baulk he needs to be careful; he does well enough for now.

My system crashes, returning to show me Jak at the table at 17 points to the good. He’s hitting the ball really nicely now, screwing back off yellow and via rest to sink another red and develop one more. He’s in lovely control.

Down goes the green, Stuart concedes, and what a session this is! Great stuff, Jak now in control of the play – thanks to Stuart’s miss and his fantastic clearance.

A red cut to middle and Stuart looks pensive, Jak quickly adding two more pots and upping the snookers-required count to two.

Jak judges a safety beautifully, pulling white all the way down towards the baulk cushion, hiding red with brown and blue; Stuart hits well but catches the middle jaw, leaving a chance.

Stuart leaves one to left corner, Jak increases his lead and tucks in behind the last red, near the side rail. He was a ball away from 0-4; now he’s almost at 3-3.

Jak gets out … and in again, but he’ll need all the remaining reds, two of which are close to black cush – and each other. He gets a decent angle to go at them off the black and dislodges one, sticking on the rail for the other. He’s not got much angle, so all he can do is send it down and consider a cut-back, again on the black; nope, it’s a safety, and bit by bit he’s imposing himself on this.

Stuart runs out of position so lays a snooker; Jak escapes and we’re back playing safety. Not for long, he thinks he can get a red through a gap, he can’t, the white almost goes in-off into the middle, so does the red, both stay out, and he leaves nothing. Then he gets in again with a swerve, sees a the next red rattle around the pocket before finally opting to drop. Another is then sent through a narrow gap long to the green, and this is a very different match now – a proper intense contest.

Jak gets really close to sinking a starter into right corner, but he doesn’t and Stuart tidies up. Though he’ll be slightly irritated not to be way out in front, his opponent still unsettled, he’s seen a bit and he’ll just keep doing what he’s doing.

That clearance has changed everything. Jak’s potting well now, building breaks nicely, and this is already a terrific contest.

Jak smokes down the final red, nuzzles into the pink, just about, and Stuart concedes.

Jak’s break comes to an end on 66 but Stuart returns to the table needing three snookers. Good luck with that, old mate

Yeah, this is more like it. Jak removes balls with precision, develops a safe red, and he’s going to close to within one. How important might that clearance in the last frame be?

Jak drills a starter into right corner, and if he could find another telling contribution, that’d tell Stuart that he can’t afford to miss. A recovery-pot into left corner then keeps the run going, and slowly, he looks to be playing himself into this match.

Stuart steers down a lovely starter, cut tight into right corner off the jaw, but when he looks to go through the pack for the black a few shots later, he doesn’t stick enough behind it, meaning end of break.

Jak cups an ear to the crowd by way of gag and disappears for the mid-sesh much happier than he might’ve been. Stuart should be happy too, but he knows he was a ball away from a lead so commanding it might’ve been definitive.

No matter, drilled into the same hole and what a clearance this could be! Pink and black follow, and we got ourselves a ball-game! But do we got ourselves a turning point?

Using the green, Jak brings the black back up the table with him, but the brown is long and tough; he cuts it into the green bag beautifully, but he’s not perfect on the blue…

Interesting, in comms, Philip Studd says that after beating Judd, Jak said he’d not slept the night before the final session, but that you don’t need sleep at the Cruce because adrenaline takes you through. I dunno, he of course knows much better than me, but what goes up must come down. He’s at the table though, having won the safety battle, and this is a monstrous visit in the context of this match. He sends a lovely cut-back red into right corner; can he clear the colours for the frame and a foothold?

Stuart promotes one of them off the pink, then via the black brings two more into play; a lovely pink to middle follows, and this is great stuff, kicking his opponent while he’s down. I’m not sure what Jak does next because he’s not a player likely to hit a buzz and rinse a succession of frames, but he’ll still have time to come back. Meantime, the frame almost secure Stuart slams a blue into the jaws of middle, the frame still alive with one red left on the table.

It’s just not going well for Jak, who misses to left corner – Fouldsy notes his safety’s been fine but you can’t win frames without potting. I don’t know, he’ll have expended a lot of emotional energy beating Judd, but he can’t be going 4-0 down, an entire mini-sesh. And of course Stuart knows that – but there are four reds on or near the top rail, so there’s work to do yet.

With the black near the green bag, there’s some safety and snookering, then Stuart somehow lands a plant off the cushion, in-off. He can’t do much with it, but he does look the better player in the safety exchanges.

Jak gets in with a cut-back … then out missing to left corner, tapping the butt of his cue on the baize in frustration. That’s about as demonstrative as he gets, though he’ll be comforted when Stuart directs pink into far middle-jaw.

A little bit of over-confidence from Stuart? He tries to do a little too much with a safety, careers into the pack … and leaves only a red that can be sent long. They’re not dropping for Jak today though, so we’re now back playing safety.

Jak’s got a solid temperament, but if he loses this frame too, he’ll feel the match slipping away before it’s even started. So he’ll be delighted to be handed a simple starter when Stuart misses to left corner, less so that he can only profit to the tune of nine.

Stuart’s playing well, Jak isn’t. Sometimes it’s that simple.

Stuart can only improve the red’s position so half plays a pot to the green but mainly he’s laying a snooker, Jak misses it by a street and leaves it on. He’s having a shocker so far, his highest break 22, and Stuart only needs to the green.

Jak gets in by fluking an absurd plant, but then sends a later red zipping around the pocket like water in the plughole, problem being it then jumps out. There’s a red on the side that might save him, pink blocking it too, but he’ll be worried.

A red to middle followed by an unfortunate kiss means end of break, and given the whereabouts of the balls that are left, we may be with this frame for a while yet.

A bout of safety, then Jak sinks a starter .. only to miss the green. He’ll be concerned now, because if Stuart takes another, the final frame of the mini-sesh becomes mustn’t lose. And when Stuart spends a while thinking about a blue to the yellow then sinks it right in the heart of the pocket, he’ll be fearing the worst, all the more so as more balls disappear.

Let-off for Jak and doesn’t he need it! Stuart gets decent contact breaking the pack but all he’s on is a tester to right-middle, he can’t get it down; the Silent Assassin can’t send it into the green pocket, and we’re back playing safety.

Stuart misses to the green bag by miles, clipping the green on the way towards the pocket. So Jak gets in, plays a lovely screw-back for a red near the middle … then misses an absolute dolly. The way Stuart’s playing, he can’t afford to do that; that he did suggests a player not yet at one with his surroundings.

Stuart doesn’t give a pink to middle enough gas so has to settle for a 94; he’ll cope.

Stuart secures the frame and tickles in a fine green, another ton now within grasp. He is playing beautifully.

This is another very confident contribution from Ballrun; he feels invincible, you can tell, and though it’s unlikely he sustains this for three days, even another session of it could make things very nasty for Jak.

Again using the rest, this time Jak doesn’t get through the shot properly, misses, and leaves one for Stuart who, early on, has a long think before dropping a cut-back which the pocket accepts, last roll.

Jak clobbers down a fine starter and soon breaks the pack off the black – he doesn’t play that quickly, but if he has the chance to attack he does. He then pokes down a lovely red with the rest, moving the white sideways for the pink, and he’s fashioning a decent opportunity here.

Stuart develops the penultimate red but misses the pink, so no ton for him. But with a decent knock of 76, he’s in the match.

Needing an angle to break the pair of reds just below the pink spot, Stuart gets too straight, so has to play a proper minger from the side rail, above centre, into the opposite right corner. From here, the frame should be his.

Staurt is carrying on where he left off last evening, calmly picking the correct shots, then playing them correctly.

Immediately, Jak misses to left corner, and it’s quiet after that, then he misses to right … and, I think, somehow gets away with it – the crowd chuckle at the effrontery. But it turns out Stuart’s on one to right corner, he sends it down, and though the black is on the to cushion, he’s the pink available … and his go at it sees it indulge in a big wobble before dropping.

Is how Ronnie describes the work of players whose easy, repeatable cueing suits the long format: Matthew Stevens, Anthony Kyren Wilson … and Jak.

He’s not scared of anyone and results don’t lie: when he plays the top guys he thinks that’s where he should be and the format suits him. He feels really up for it when he’s at the Cruce, and if Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan says he’s a “proper player” we can safely conclude that he is.

He’s surprised he played well for so long as he didn’t make many good breaks beating Jack Lisowski. and it’s funny really, because blogging last evening I said it got to a point at which Ronnie looked like someone who knew he was going to lose, I guess that’s part opf the reason why: an opponent who refused to do what he was meant to.

He’s had some tough times these last few years but this match showed him he could still do it. Every time he went behind, he played some great snooker, and of Jak he says that you can’t get under his skin.

Stuart was brilliant all through his match with Ronnie, but especially so last evening. He’ll know he has to take care not to think he’s done the hard part, but he also dismissed TMNTPETPUAC in the last eight en route to becoming world champ in 2014, so he knows what to do. Jak, meanwhile, is able to play with preternatural equanimity, never getting too excited or downcast. He will not be fazed by his first encounter with the One-Table Situation.

I think it’s fair to say that there are some who were underwhelmed by our semi-final line-up, but hopefully after this afternoon’s opening session we can now enjoy them for what they are: two intriguing matches featuring players bang in form, the four best at our game’s showpiece event. Tonight should be a lot of fun.

We’ll be back again at 6.30pm BST for the beginning of Stuart Bingham v Jak Jones. See you then!

That, my friends was a fantastic session of One-Table Situation World Championship Snooker snooker. We’re level going into tomnorrow morning’s second session, and I’ve not a clue what’s going to be. But I can’t wait to find out!

COME ON KYRIZZLE! Eleven reds, 11 blacks, but when the white slows a choice: red to left corner and around the table, or red to left-middle and gentle float backwards; he opts for the latter, gets position … but misses the pot! But what an effort, and what a session!

On 56, Kyren has to make a call: the 147 or the frame, and he takes the 147 – good for him, there are loads of the latter and few of the former. So he slithers in a horrible black to left corner from right side, steadies to steers down a straight diagonal, and there are no difficult balls, but also not that many dead easy ones. I say that, but he breaks the pack, the next red secures the frame; “Thank God Mark Selby’s out this year,” he says, as last time his made a maxi in the final to win a share of the prize pot.

How much is too much? Dave’s so confident now he goes nails at a brute to right corner, misses, and Kyren immediately gets to work, four red-blacks reminding us of the maxi he scored here last term. But have a look He splits the pack beautifully but must now face down a minger of a black from the side rail; he strokes it home superbly and, student of the game that he is, he’ll really want a shy at the big fish. Come on the Kyrizzle!

“He’s always been good enough,” says UJ of Dave. “Maybe his thought processes aren’t as good as those others have, but he’s good enough.” And so is this match – so far, the standard has been high with neither player just letting things go – they’re taking on everything, and when Dave’s left with the final black, he thwacks it off the table, making the point that he’s absolutely loving this contest. So are we, old mate, so are we.

Dave makes the frame safe and he’s not going to let this chance go without a serious scuffle.

Dave has a long think, thinking about sending red on to red into left corner, the pink in the road. But then he decdes he can just go direct … can he?! You bet he can! That’s a glorious pot, and it should mean the frame.

Dave doesn’t hit the pack as he’d planned but he’s on one, then has to find a recovery-pot thanks to lax cue-ball control. So far, the method is working, but he’ll want to play a little tighter than he is. Still, he’s at the table potting balls … or was, jawsing a brute to the green but getting away with it, leaving not. It He had to take it on, though, because he can’t get the white doing what he tells it.

“Brilliant … brilliant!” croons Uncle Joe when Kyren leathers a starter down right corner. But then he misses one he shouldn’t, leaving Dave a simple starter, but there aren’t many loose reds at which he can pick.

A run of 67 levels the match again.

Kyren calmly removes balls, a lovely delicate floater slipping down left corner, and we’re back level; should someone with the last two frames of the session, they’ll lead overnight, but only by two

Bridging awkwardly, Dave jabs down on one to right corner, undercuts it, and Kyren will be pleased to back in: his opponent looked like he might catching a buzz, so will want to harsh it up pronto.

Now then! Dave is proper into this, power-caressing a diagonal starter into left corner, returning to the business end off the green, and he’s enjoying this now. But, well, this game! Poking over a cut having played an unnecessary cannon, Dave clips a stray ball with his cue, calling foul on himself … only for Kyren to hit the knuckle sending one long to the green! Another chance for the AF, but there’s a lot of work to do to make something substantial/

Kyren now knows mistakes are likely to be punished and with that comes pressure. But the same is so of the lead Dave now has; he’ll be looking to cash-in while the going’s good because this is a long old match.

Dave’s been good in the balls so far, but a careless shot means a snooker or a difficult pot; he’s feeling good so he takes on the latter, landing another banger to right-middle – the pocket to which Kyren missed in the process of letting him in. he’s going to take the lead, and is visibly growing in confidence. He belongs here.

Dave sends a nice one spinning the right-middle just when he looks in trouble, and the frame is now on his cue.

A poor positional shot means that to sustain the break, a plant through a tiny gap, sent long to the green bag is necessary. Is he really taking this on? He is you know … and it’s there! Fantastic behaviour and a nice split follows, but the only one he’s is a tight cut to the middle, and he’s too high! Chance for Dave to counter!

Kyren, we’re told, was in the practise room during the break and he immediately strokes down a starter. He’ll have wanted to take charge of this match early doors – my sense is Dave is more open to going with the flow – but two safety errors have cost him. In the balls, though, he looks decent.

Dave records his seventh ton of the competition, that’s three more than anyone else, and a glorious exhibition green, cut to the middle, puts an exclamation mark on a run of 104. We’re into this, and the players depart for the mid-sesh; I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Dave plays for a red he might’ve left till later and now has to send a tricky recovery-pot to the green bag; he does so well. So can he break what’s left off the pack off the brown? Can he ever! The black is covered, but the pink and almost all the reds are there for him. This is going to be all-square!

Dave steers in a beauty, sending the white long, dead slow, to pot in a tiny fraction of right corner; his reward is getting to play a safety. But then Kyren catches one too thin – sorry Dominic, thinly – cannons a stray red and offers a chance. Usually, the Warrior is solid in those situations, but that’s his second such error and Dave has to cash in because most likely, there won’t be many.

Kyren clears the table, and already the next frame feels a biggie.

Dave looks poorly sat in his seat as Kyren levels the scores, the two remaining reds are in open play. But he gets low on the final one, considers a safety, then takes on a narrow oneto the centre .. and it’s there, right in the heart of the pocket. Colour, yellow and green for the frame…

Eeeesh, Dave undercuts a black off its spot but before he can respond – with plenty at which to go – Kyren has to ask the ref to remind people to leave their phones off. It’s nuts really, how can you not know that needs to be done? But back on the table, this is a chance for the Warriro to make clear such carelessness will not be brooked.

Dave accumulates nicely, but after removing loose reds he has to ruffle the pack and does so well enough for the now.

A poor break from Dave offers Kyren one to right corner, and when he misses it, the initial error yields an opportunity, a red beyond the blue to left-middle. A decent contribution here would be interesting.

It is and, for the sake of our match, good.

Dave picks around the table, strokes a nasty redemption-blue into the green, gets on to one of the harder reds, digs in behind it, down it goes, and that should be the frame.

Oh Dave. A lax positional shot means a nasty oblique red to the middle and he can’t cut it down; he’s not settled yet and, in comms, Dave notes that last evening he said if he had Kyren’s self-belief he’d have won one of these by now. That sounds a little glib to my ear – Kyren is a better player than him and doesn’t have one – but so far we’re seeing the difference on the table. Or are we? A poor safety offers another opportunity, but the remaining reds are awkwardly situated.

Kyren nails a gorgeous starter diagonally into left corner but a bad miss hands Dave a chance; he winds up stuck in the reds, the speed of the new cloth perhaps deceiving him, so it’s end of break. Thinking more about how this match might go, I’d say if Dave wins, it’ll be an arse-nipper but Kyren, if he plays well early doors, is capable of winning by a way. And as I type, he cannons a red and pots it, the last thing the Angry Farmer needs … but a miss with the rest, a rarity from the Warrior, and even though it’s only frame two, you feel he needs to make something of what’s a decent chance.

Kyren hits the front and Dave hasn’t settled yet.

Kyren secures the frame, the only remaining seed looking good. I doubt three qualifiers have ever made the last four, and it happening now tells us how many brilliant players we have in our game. It sometimes means, though, that the world championships won’t confirm for us the identity of the best player in the world, and as someone who grew with Davis and Hendry, that’s a shame. But at the same time, it’s great having no clue what’s going to happen

Kyren looks settled and why not, this is his fourth one-table situation in seven years. On 40, he strokes a pink to middle that gets him in position to dismiss another red, and though of the remaining three, two aren’t far off cushions, they’re far enough such that I expect him to find route to them. Of course, as soon as I type that he makes one difficult for himself, but sends it spinning to the green bag, and this is very good work.

It’s Dave in next, he keeps the run going with a nice red and delicious cut-back black, but you can only chase for so long and the next red, a tightish cut to left corner, goes astray leaving a decent scoring opportunity for Kyrizzle.

Now that you ask, I strongly fancy Kyren for this one. He’s playing well – though not as well as he can, he noted pre-match – and given the remaining field, will be convinced this is his time. What he has is a superb long-potting game and good tactical discipline, perfect for the long format, and if he sustains his level, of the three others left, only Stuart Bingham can beat him. And he’s in first here, Dave missing to left corner which allows him to tidy up, but after he cleverly releases the black, it rolls safe, just

But how dare he change his walk-on music from this:

He says he lost himself for a while but he’s back at it now, eating well and “smashing the gym”. What’s most interesting, though, is what he says about Kyren, difficult to play because of his “mannerisms around the table,and his “ultimate belief” – which now, Dave has too.

Dave Gilbert is a beautiful cueist and he’s reached this stage before, losing a final-frame decider to John Higgins, which is to say if he’s on, he can stroke them in with the best. Kyren, meanwhile, loves Sheffield – he’s made three quarters, two semis and a final, unable to do much in the latter having spent himself struggling past Anthony McGill in the last four. Now, though, he’s a much better player, he’s in form, and he’s certain that this is his destiny.

We all had these as our final four, right? Course we did. But though we might not have our biggest names, what we do have is four men about to attack the opportunity of their lives with everything they’ve got. Stuart Bingham has won at the Cruce before so is probably under less pressure than Kyren Wilson, Jak Jones and Dave Gilbert, but like them he has sacrificed and grafted for a moment he thought might never come again. So, over the next three days, these four are going to empty their souls for our entertainment – and it’s going to be great.

• Kyren Wilson v David Gilbert

• Stuart Bingham v Jak Jones

• Kyren Wilson 9-7 John Higgins
• Judd Trump 9-13 Jak Jones

• David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire
• Stuart Bingham 8-8 Ronnie O’Sullivan

• Kyren Wilson 13-8 John Higgins
• Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O’Sullivan