Wu Yize edges Shaun Murphy in all-time great World Snooker Championship final

Wu Yize has become the second youngest winner of the World Snooker Championship after a stunning 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy.

It was the first time the Crucible final had gone down to a deciding frame since Peter Ebdon beat Stephen Hendry in 2002.

22-year-old Wu had never won a match at the Crucible before this year, but has produced an incredible run of performances in Sheffield.

Victories over Lei Peifan, Mark Selby, Hossein Vafaei and a dramatic deciding frame win over Mark Allen took him to the final, where even more drama followed.

The two relentlessly attacking players stuck to their guns and took it to each other over 34 brilliant frames.

Momentum swung each way as the big breaks kept flowing and neither lost their nerve as they went punch for punch and Wu just pipped Murphy to cross the line.

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After Zhao Xintong became China’s first world champion last year, the country can now boast two Crucible kings.

Taking defeat impressively, Murphy said: ‘It’s been an excellent couple of weeks for me and my team here in Sheffield. We’ve had an amazing time, some great performances, we’ve had a lot of laughs and jeez we came close, we were very, very close.

‘I’d like to be the first to congratulate Wu Yize, his family and everyone around him on being a wonderful world champion, congratulations.’

Wu started the last day of the tournament 10-7 ahead, having finished Sunday night in some style, but the composure he had shown seemed to have deserted him in the third of four sessions.

The Englishman reeled off the first five frames of the day, knocking in breaks of 76, 52, 59 and 60 along the way, to take the lead at 12-10.

Pressure had not seemed to be an issue for Wu over the entire tournament, but he appeared to finally be cracking with the finish line in sight.

He filled those cracks before the session ended, though, stopping the rot with a 64 and moving level again in the penultimate frame of the afternoon.

Wu then looked superbly composed and dangerous again in the 25th, knocking in a very difficult break of 61 to help him on his way to 13-12 ahead.

The Chinese star looked like a spent force but roared back into fine form to get his nose back in front.

There was a rousing reception for both as they returned for the last session but there were contrasting entrances from the players, with Wu barely acknowledging the crowd as he walked down the stairs, while Murphy soaked up the moment.

The younger man certainly appeared more settled at the start of this session than the last, knocking in a powerful 88.

The tit-for-tat went on, though, as Murphy made 82 and then took the next to level up once again at 14-14.

Then came two dramatic steals, one from Wu and next from Murphy in stunning fashion as the Chinese star made 70, only for the Englishman to clear up with 65 to pinch it on the black.

That could have been a real blow for the youngster, but he was in again with a long red, blasting the pack apart and making a half-century to move 16-15 up.

Back surged the Magician with a beautiful 131, bringing the crowd to their feet, as the match was even yet again.

Both did make errors in the next two, but were still playing well enough to pounce on the mistake of the other as Wu went one from victory with a 91 and Murphy responded with a 75 to send us to a decider.

It was the Englishman who briefly got in first, but played safe and Wu who got the first really good chance thanks to an excellent red to middle.

He made a break of 85 in yet more swashbuckling style to get the job done and become world champion.

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