Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

player from

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) ...

and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 Masters and the

2020 World Snooker Championship The 2020 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2020 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 31 July to 16 August 2020 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was th ...

. Wilson reached his highest world ranking of fourth in 2020. A prolific breakbuilder, Wilson has made over 350

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

s and a

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a one-four-seven) is the highest possible in a single of snooker. A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, followed by all six for a further 27 ...

on three occasions. Wilson turned professional in 2010 after finishing fifth in the 2009–2010 International Open Series rankings. After failing to retain his spot on the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of approximately 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. The World Snooker Tour is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial ar ...

in 2011, he regained his tour card in 2013 and has been a professional ever since. Wilson won his first ranking title at the

2015 Shanghai Masters The 2015 Bank of Communications OTO Shanghai Masters was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 14 and 20 September 2015 at the Shanghai Grand Stage in Shanghai, China. It was the second ranking event of the 2015/20 ...

when ranked 54th in the world; he defeated

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

10–9 in the final. Wilson has won an additional four ranking events: at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic, defeating

Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English former snooker player. The winner of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, Ebdon won nine world ranking events, placing twelfth on the all-time list of ranking tournament winners. In addit ...

4–2; at the 2019 German Masters, defeating David Gilbert 9–7; at the 2020 Championship League, again defeating Trump, this time by a score of 3–1. and at the 2022 European Masters, defeating

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season, when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship ...

9-3.

Career

Early career (2009–13)

During the 2009–10 season, Wilson won the sixth event of the International Open Series having already finished runner-up in the third event, where finished the season fifth in the rankings. This gave Wilson a place on the

for the 2010–11 snooker season. In the UK Championship he defeated Paul Davison 9–6 and Ian McCulloch 9–8, before losing 4–9 to Rory McLeod in the third round. He reached the same stage of the World Championship qualifying with defeats of Dermot McGlinchey and

Joe Swail Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World ...

, before McLeod once again conquered Wilson this time 10–3 in the third round of qualifying. He finished the year ranked world number 72 and did not retain his place on tour. Wilson entered Q School to win back his place on Tour, but was unable to do so. Having dropped off the Tour, Wilson was considered an amateur player and could not enter qualifying for any of the ranking events. He entered 12 of the Players Tour Championship (PTC) events and finished 72nd on the Order of Merit. He once again entered Q School but only won one match over three events. In the 2012–13 season, Wilson was again confined to entering amateur events and enjoyed a good run in the PTC Event 4 by beating Tom Ford, Jamie Jones and Stephen Maguire, before being whitewashed 4–0 by Ding Junhui in the last 16. He also lost in the last 32 in two European Tour events to be ranked 75th on the PTC Order of Merit. He then turned professional in 2013 for the 2013–14 season.

2013–2014 season

Wilson enjoyed a successful return to the professional game during the 2013/2014 season. He won four matches in Shanghai Masters qualifying, concluding with a 5–3 victory over

Marcus Campbell Marcus Campbell (born 22 September 1972) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He was ranked within the world's top 64 for 15 consecutive seasons. Career Campbell is most famous for whitewashing Stephen Hendry 9–0 in the 1998 ...

to reach the main stage of a ranking event for the first time. In his first round match against Stuart Bingham, Wilson had a chance to make a 147 but missed the 13th black. Nevertheless, he defeated his much higher ranked opponent 5–1 and continued his run with a 5–3 win over

Marco Fu Marco Fu Ka-chun, MH, JP (, born 8 January 1978) is a Hong Kong professional snooker player. He is a three-time snooker world rankings, ranking event winner, having won the 2007 Grand Prix (snooker), 2007 Grand Prix, the 2013 Australian ...

. Wilson's tournament came to an end in the quarter-finals as he lost 1–5 against Michael Holt. He caused another upset in the first round of the

International Championship The International Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Judd Trump. History The event was introduced in the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", because the tournament h ...

by beating Stephen Maguire 6–3, before losing 1–6 to Graeme Dott in the second round. He also qualified for the China Open, but was eliminated 5–3 by

Jamie O'Neill Jamie O'Neill (born 1 January 1962) is an Irish author. His critically acclaimed novel, ''At Swim, Two Boys'' (2001), earned him the highest advance ever paid for an Irish novel and frequent praise as the natural successor to James Joyce, Fla ...

in the opening round. In

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

qualifying, Wilson beat

Chris Norbury Christopher Norbury (born 14 August 1986) is an English former professional snooker player. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. Norbury first entered Main Tour for ...

10–6 and then defeated Alfie Burden and

Rod Lawler Rod Lawler (born 12 July 1971) is an English professional snooker player. He is noted for his slow playing style which gave rise to his nickname, "Rod the Plod". After turning professional in 1990, Lawler has reached one ranking tournament fin ...

, both by 10–3 score lines, to stand just one win away from making his first appearance at the main stage of the tournament. In the fourth qualifying round, he faced the 2006 winner of the event Graeme Dott and came back from 1–4 down to trail only 4–5 at the end of the first session. His momentum continued into the evening and he took the last four frames of the match, including three breaks over 50, to win 10–7. In anticipation of playing his first match at the Crucible, Wilson described it as a "dream come true" and said that he would like to draw

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

in the first round. Dott stated that Wilson could "beat anybody" if he played to the same standard again. Wilson played world number 12 Ricky Walden in the first round of the championship, losing 7–10 after a final frame that lasted for over an hour.

2014–2015 season

Wilson failed to qualify for the first three ranking events of the 2014–15 season, before beating

Ross Muir Ross Muir (born 6 October 1995 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He regularly wears a glove on his bridge hand. Muir turned professional in 2013 after graduating from event two of the Q School, defeating David Mo ...

to play in the first round of the

where he lost 2–6 to Sam Baird. After edging Gary Wilson 6–5 in the first round of the UK Championship, Wilson stated that his concentration had been fading in matches this season and would have to raise his game significantly against defending champion Neil Robertson. He did exactly that as he made an 87 break to lead 5–4 and had a chance to win in the next frame courtesy of a fluked red, but lost position on the final brown allowing Robertson to level. In the decider Wilson missed a tough opening red and Robertson responded with a match winning 86. After losing in the semi-finals of the 2015 Snooker Shoot-Out, Wilson had his best finish of the year in a ranking event as he dropped just one frame in beating

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player and current commentator who works for Eurosport. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Du ...

and Ben Woollaston at the Indian Open. In the next round, he was defeated 3–4 by Joe Perry. Wilson ended the season as world number 56.

2015–2016 season

Wilson won three matches to qualify for the

and came through a wildcard round match in China, before beating Joe Perry 5–2 and Michael Holt 5–1. In Wilson's second career ranking event quarter-final he led home favourite Ding Junhui 3–1, before Ding levelled at 3–3. The match went to a deciding frame, which Wilson won on the final black. Wilson then dominated

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

6–1 to reach his first ranking final, where his match with

went to a deciding frame, after Wilson had led 7–3, 8–4 and 9–7. In the decider, Wilson made a championship winning 75 break to claim his first ranking title. Ranked world number 54, Wilson become the lowest ranked player to win a ranking title since 2005, however he rose to 22nd after the event. After the Shanghai success, Wilson lost in the last 32 of the two next ranking events: 3–6 to Mark Allen at the

and 1–6 to Tom Ford at the UK Championship. At the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, ...

, after beating Rory McLeod, Michael Holt and Ryan Day, all by 5–4 scorelines, he reached the semi-finals, but was defeated 6–3 by Luca Brecel, who became the first Belgian player to reach the final of a ranking event. Along with Anthony Hamilton at the China Open qualifiers, Wilson set a new record of six consecutive centuries in a snooker match, four of which were scored by him. In the first round of the Welsh Open, Wilson lost 3–4 to Irish player

Leo Fernandez Leo Fernandez (born 5 July 1976 in Limerick) is an Irish former professional snooker player. Snooker career Fernandez finished second on the PIOS Order of Merit in 2007 gaining promotion to the Main Tour for the 2007–08 season, although he fai ...

. He finished fourth on the World Grand Prix Order of Merit, and at the event he lost 1–4 to Joe Perry in the last 16. At the China Open he was knocked out 5–1 in the second round by Rod Lawler. Wilson came through

qualifying and then edged out Joe Perry 10–9 in the opening round. In the second round he took a 7–1 lead over Mark Allen after the first session and also led 11–5, before Allen won four frames in a row. Wilson then took the two frames he needed to reach the quarter-finals and made the tournament's high break of 143 against

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

, but lost 8–13. His ended the year at 16th in the world rankings.

2016–2017 season

Wilson recovered from 0–3 down to

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (, born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

in the second round of the Indian Open to win 4–3 and would go on to play in the final after eliminating

Nigel Bond Nigel Bond (born 15 November 1965) is an English former professional snooker player. Bond competed on the main tour from 1989 to 2022, and was ranked within the world's top 16 players between 1992 and 1999, peaking at 5th for the 1996–97 s ...

4–1 in the semi-finals. He faced

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He wo ...

and was tied at 2–2 at the interval, but McGill pulled away to triumph 5–2. In the fourth round of the Northern Ireland Open, Wilson was 3–0 up before his opponent Ronnie O'Sullivan restricted him to one pot as he levelled with three successive centuries. Wilson held his nerve to win 4–3 and then beat Mark Williams 5–4. In the semi-finals he lost 2–6 to Mark King. Wilson played in the Masters for the first time and was eliminated 6–3 by Ding Junhui. Wilson overcame Ding 5–1 in the quarter-finals of the China Open, but never got ahead of Mark Selby in a 6–4 semi-final defeat. Wilson was a seeded player at the

for the first time and battled past

David Grace David Grace (born 1949 in Rugby, Warwickshire, Rugby, Warwickshire, England) is a British motorsport, racing driver and businessman. He was the Chief Executive Officer, CEO at Rockingham Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2002, and oversaw the openi ...

10–6 in the opening round. He had a great start against Stuart Bingham in round two as he won the first five frames and he went on to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the second year in a row with a 13–10 win. The tip of Wilson's cue split at 3–3 and John Higgins would progress 13–6.

2017–2018 season

Wilson made his first official

against

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began his prof ...

in the second round of the

, but eventually lost 5–6. In January 2018, Wilson reached the final of the Masters, becoming the first person born in the 1990s to appear in any Triple Crown final. He was beaten by

in a close match. Wilson also reached two ranking finals that season, losing to Ding Junhui and

. At the

as he reached the semi-finals (beating Allen 13–6 in the last eight) before losing 13–17 to

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

. Wilson made a 140 break in frame seven, after which the match was delayed for a time when he suffered a nosebleed.

2018–2019 season

In August 2018, Wilson claimed his second ranking event title at the

Paul Hunter Classic The Paul Hunter Classic is a non-ranking snooker tournament. It changed from a ranking event to a 16-man invitational event in 2019. From 2010 to 2015 it was part of the Players Tour Championship. Barry Hawkins is the reigning champion. After los ...

, defeating 2002 World Champion

4–2 in the final. In September, he won his second consecutive tournament, the non-ranking

Six-red World Championship The Six-red World Championship is a six-red snooker tournament, played with the six and six . Ding Junhui is the reigning champion. History The event was first held in the 2008/2009 season, and was known as the Six-red Snooker Internationa ...

, defeating Ding Junhui in the final 8–4. He then reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters where, after tying the match at 6–6, he lost 6–10 to defending and eventual champion

. At the Champion of Champions tournament in November, Wilson beat world champion Mark Williams and

by dropping only a frame in each match, before defeating Masters champion

, to face Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final. O'Sullivan led 5–1 and 8–5, but Wilson pulled back to lead 9–8 before eventually losing 9–10. In the Northern Ireland Open, Wilson played a seven-frame match that lasted over three hours, against

Lee Walker Lee Walker (born 11 February 1976) is a Welsh former professional snooker player who is the reigning World Seniors Champion. He is both an official WPBSA and SightRight coach. Career After turning professional in 1994 at the age of 18, Walker r ...

(whose average shot time was 38 seconds), losing 3–4 in the deciding frame. He then reached the quarter-final stage of the

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican Centre, York. Ronnie O'Sullivan h ...

, losing 1–6 to Stuart Bingham. He won the

in February 2019, beating David Gilbert 9–7 in the final. Having trailed 5–7, Wilson recovered to win the last four frames of the match for his third ranking title. He made quarter-final appearances at three further ranking events before the end of the season, at the World Grand Prix, the

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

, and the

2019–2020 season

Defending his title at the

in August 2019, Wilson finished runner-up after a 3–4 defeat to

in the final. Leading the match 3–2 and needing only a couple of pots to retain the title, Wilson broke down on 57, allowing Hawkins to force a deciding frame which he won. At the quarter-final stage of the Shanghai Masters in September, Wilson led 5–1 against defending champion

and was just one frame away from progressing to the next round, but then lost five straight frames and the match 5–6. He reached the semi-finals of the World Open in October, losing 5–6 to

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker playe ...

. After losing to Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals of the 2020 Masters, where he led 4–1 before being defeated 4–6, Wilson beat defending champion

4–3 in the second round of the World Grand Prix in February 2020; he then defeated

in the quarter-finals 5–4, before being knocked out in the semi-finals by Neil Robertson 4–6. The following week, he reached the final of the Welsh Open; despite inflicting a 5–0 quarter-final whitewash on defending champion Neil Robertson, and making his second competitive 147 along the way, he was heavily defeated in the final by

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

9–1. He was runner-up at the

2020 Gibraltar Open The 2020 Gibraltar Open (officially the 2020 BetVictor Gibraltar Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 13 to 15 March 2020 at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar with qualifying rounds occurring on 11 and 12 ...

in March; after defeating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Mark Williams, both 4–0, en route to the final, he missed out on the title with a 3–4 defeat to Judd Trump. The

was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and Wilson received a bye for the first round due to Anthony Hamilton withdrawing from the tournament. Wilson defeated

in the second round, defending champion

in the quarter-final, before defeating

17–16 after fluking a match winning in the semi-final. During the semi-final in victory he was visibly emotional and later apologised having won the match on a fluke. He played

in the final. The first session was of poor standard perhaps due to both players reeling from narrow victories in their semi-finals, both won on deciding frames. Wilson trailed 6–2 after the first session but found form in the second whereas O'Sullivan lost his, first leading 8–2 but then losing his lead to 9–7. The day ended with O'Sullivan leading 10–7, with Wilson missing a crucial red in frame 17 along the cushion that would have probably led to him winning the frame. In the third session Wilson started strongly with a break of 73 but then lost eight successive frames and lost the final 18–8.

2020–2021 season

Kyren started new season as a world number 6. At the European Masters, he got through first rounds to play against

in quarter-final stage. In this best-of-9 match, Trump won first 4 frames, then Kyren halved the deficit to 2–4, but Trump's century in seventh frame meant the end at the tournament for the Warrior. These two met again a few weeks later, at the 2020 English Open, also in the quarter-final. Even in this match, Kyren fell short and finally lost 1–5 to eventual champion Trump. At 2020 Championship league, which was a ranking tournament for the first time in this season, Kyren topped all three group stages to reach his 10th ranking final. He played against world number one Judd Trump for the third time in just few weeks. In this best-of-five match, Warrior claimed first frame, but Trump responded with a break 118 to level. Then Kyren regained the lead and finally won the match 3-1 by playing break of 88 in 4th frame to claim his 4th ranking event victory.

Personal life

Wilson has two sons and has stated that he wants to win titles to make them proud. He supports Chelsea.

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 12 (5 titles)

Non-ranking finals: 6 (3 titles)

Amateur finals: 2 (1 title)

References

External links

Kyren Wilson
at the ''World Snooker Tour''
Global Snooker Profile
(as of 2010) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Kyren 1991 births Living people English snooker players Sportspeople from Kettering World Games gold medalists Competitors at the 2017 World Games