Ronnie O’Sullivan was ahead 10–7 after 18 frames. “The Rocket,” who is playing in his first final, is going for his sixth World title and a record 37th ranking title.
After their thrilling semifinal victories against Mark Selby and Anthony McGill, both players appeared exhausted. The five-time champion was lucky to end the session with an overnight lead of 10-7, having led 8-2 at one point.
Over the course of the match, O’Sullivan appeared to be struggling with the circumstances and presented an increasingly irritated image to the spectators who had been permitted back into the Crucible for the first time since the competition’s first day.
Both elements of the favourite’s game were evident in the opening half-session, in which despite numerous errors he summoned back-to-back breaks of 80 and 75 to fashion a 3-1 lead.
But there was never the sense that O’Sullivan was in shape to exploit his opponent’s evident inability to settle, with a loose response from the 44-year-old enabling Wilson to reduce the arrears.
O’Sullivan proceeded to reel off the next five frames in succession without looking entirely comfortable, as the pair traded errors and rendered the drama of their respective Friday semi-finals a distant memory.
O’Sullivan’s first century, a 106 in the seventh frame, proved his most notable visit but it was mostly a case of sweeping up to clinch frames after Wilson had failed to take an opportunity.
Wilson’s form looked to have completely deserted him when he missed a black off its spot in the 10th frame, as O’Sullivan made it 8-2 despite looking unhappy with aspects of his game.
Wilson stopped the rot with a fine break of 93 to make it 8-3, and with O’Sullivan’s body-language exuding resignation, he proceeded to capitalise on his opponent’s sloppy play to pull back to 8-6.
An unfortunate in-off in the next frame, when Wilson potted a brave blue only to see a red sneak into the top left pocket, handed O’Sullivan the opportunity to restore his three frame advantage.
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