Another battle ensued for a place in the last eight, and this time, it was between world number 8, Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski, who is just five spots shy of him.
Despite being five places adrift of his opponent, it was Jack Lisowski who started ok m the front foot. The world number helped by a break of 56, recorded a 74-0 to take the frame and make it a 1-0 lead.
Just like it had happened the first time, Lisowski grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck and won the second frame as well. With a break of 72 in the second frame, he had established an excellent 2-0 lead over his better-rated opponent.
Kyren Wilson would neither flinch nor be worried though. The world number 8 could only muster a bit of his energy in the third frame, winning the frame to cut the deficit to 1.
However, he wasn’t done there. After a series of huffing and puffing on the table, after a tussle on the colors, it was Wilson who came out tops by a small margin. By the end of the fourth frame, both players had evenly shared the spoils, and from then onwards it could have been anybody’s game.
Wilson never turned back from this time onwards. The world number 8 soldiered on onto the finish line, getting the better of his opponent. Just after the interval, Wilson edged out his opponent 71-29 to take the lead for the first time during the game. He soon after won the next frame to give himself a convenient 4-2 cushion.
Wilson then widens the gulf between himself and his opponent in the fifth frame with Lisowski conceding a foul during a safety battle while searching for snooker. Wilson, ruthless in his pursuit of a place in the quarters, took advantage of that slip to make it 5-2.
At this point, he was only one frame away from the win, and there’s not much more than that you could get from any sort of motivational speaker. He rounded off with his sixth frame win on the bounce. A 6-2 win posted on the scorecard might look like an easy game for Wilson, but it was much more difficult than the scoreline could ever suggest.
Written by: Roland Arum
