World Snooker Championship | Qualifier Jak Jones struggles to the final – Former champion Stuart Bingham drops out

A tough morning session couldn’t even be completely completed on Saturday. The third of four sessions that normally belong to a semi-final battle saw Bingham and Jones not progress beyond seven frames, mainly due to an extremely long 21st part of this battle.

Ultimately, the Welshman went into the evening session with a 13-10 lead, which would last a maximum of ten frames. The Silent Assassin therefore needed four more frames to tie the 2015 world champion to his victory cart, after earlier wins against Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui and Judd Trump.

Bingham in turn beat three top names: Gary Wilson, Jack Lisowski and none other than seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan. Ball run In the first sessions it turned out to be particularly difficult with the pace and toughness of his opponent.

The first frame of the evening started as the entire morning session had: difficult. Bingham had difficulty stringing together breaks and Jones had difficulty finding the pockets at all. After yet another missed long pot by the world number 44, the ex-world champion decided to let the first frame fall his way. That didn’t happen all at once, but Jones was kind enough to give Bingham more than enough opportunities. That finally struck and closed the gap to two frames.

Both men continued in the same vein in the 25th frame. Bingham only managed 25 points before a simple miss resulted in a red card. Jones scored 48 points in two attempts, before another crazy Safety battle ensued.

For the old school a delight for snooker enthusiasts, a bit more difficult for those who prefer attacking play. Jones relented, laying down a relatively simple penultimate red ball for Bingham and Ball run could get in.

After a miracle ball to get from yellow to green, Bingham’s subsequent safety went completely wrong. Jones was able to score 14-11 and his British opponent was visibly disappointed.

The 2015 champion had to get over this bad moment, but from the break-off the white ball already went into the pocket. After Bingham took another opportunity to make some peerless pots, one came along in-off: blue went in, but so did the white.

That was an excellent opportunity for Jones to get very close to the finish line. The player who reached the World Cup for the first time last year and immediately reached the quarter-finals, came extremely close to a place in the finals a year later.

Jones certainly did not show any shivers, while previously he had only played a semi-final at the 2022 Gibraltar Open. However, his problem always remained positioning the cue ballso there were no major breaks.

That led to a wonderful situation in the 27th frame: Bingham potted red, was left with nothing and decided to put away a phenomenal snooker behind the green ball. Jones wanted to get out of here, but he just couldn’t – and the Welshman left chaos behind for referee Marcel Eckardt. He needed the help of assistant referee Rob Spencer – and the hope that Jones would get red on a second attempt.

That happened. After Bingham made another mistake, Jones was able to make his move, but he allowed his opponent to show up himself. The 47-year-old player occasionally got himself into trouble again, but just like in the first frame of the evening, he also received plenty of help from Jones – and great safety shots. The 15-12 score at the Mid Session Interval was therefore justified.

Bingham seemed to have had a good taste of tea, but only managed 23 points in his first attempt. The Welshman grabbed the opportunity that Jones was offered to put the Brit with his back against the wall.

A 70 break did not seem to convince Bingham completely, but after he played the white ball himself, the more experienced of the two had no choice but to allow the frame to his opponent; So Jones only needed one more.

Bingham gave Jones the ultimate opportunity to actually secure a place in the final. A break of 51 brought the 30-year-old player close, but not yet where he wanted to be. Bingham gave the Welshman a helping hand, after which Jones managed to reach the final of a ranking tournament for the first time ever. That was immediately the main prize: the final battle at the 2024 World Snooker Championship.

In the final, Jones will face Kyren Wilson, who turned a 14-10 lead from the third session into a 17-11 victory earlier in the day. For TheWarrior it will be his second World Cup final, in 2020 he lost 18-8 to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Indeed, eighteen frames is what the possible winner of this world championship needs in the final battle. The final starts on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM with the first session, followed by the second part in the evening from 8:00 PM. The climax can of course also be followed in its entirety on Monday on Eurosport and discovery+. You can also tune in live on all our channels from 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM.

David Gilbert – Kyren Wilson | 11-17
Jak Jones – Stuart Bingham | 17-12