‘We're going to play every single event in Germany’ - Wilson jokes he wants schedule change after European Masters win
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Updated 21/08/2022 at 22:57 GMT
Kyren Wilson claimed the 2022 European Masters final in Furth - his fifth career ranking title - after brushing aside Barry Hawkins 9-3 on Sunday. The world No. 8 had to dig deep to beat Ali Carter in a deciding frame in the semi-final on Saturday, but he hardly broke sweat as he dispatched Hawkins, who lost his way after a brilliant display against Mark Williams.
'Fantastic!' - Wilson shows his class against Hawkins with supreme double
Kyren Wilson brushed aside Barry Hawkins 9-3 in the final of the 2022 European Masters in Furth to take his fifth career ranking title.
Racing into a borderline unassailable 6-2 lead at the mid-session interval, Wilson held his nerve to take three of the next four frames, punishing Hawkins for an error-strewn display.
The world No. 8 had to dig deep to beat Ali Carter in a deciding frame in the semi-final on Saturday, but he hardly broke sweat as he dispatched Hawkins, who lost his way after a brilliant display against Mark Williams.
It’s a hat-trick of ranking titles in Germany for Wilson, following his triumphs at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic and 2019 German Masters.
“We're going to play every single event in Germany after this,” laughed Wilson in his interview during the trophy presentation.
"It has been an amazing week. To be honest, I was struggling a bit, I was down in the dumps coming here, changing cues, not knowing what I was doing with my game in general.
"My dad and his best friend Lee came out, we had some great fun. I've got lots of help back home with Sophie, my mum, my sponsors and my coach. I'm a lucky man. This was for you guys.”
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‘We're going to play every single event in Germany' - Wilson after winning European Masters
In contrast, Hawkins was in despondent mood.
He said: "It was a struggle all day today and the way the match went it could have been 9-3 to me. I wish it was. But no, Kyren stuck to his task and picked me off and it was a bad day today.
"You know it’s a bad day when you're playing for reds that don't even go. So yeah, terrible day, good week, I suppose."
Asked if he was keen on returning to Germany next year, Hawkins joked: “Yeah I hope so. The way I feel right now I don't want to be playing snooker any more. But no, I’m sure I’ll calm down in the next five or 10 minutes and I'll be fine.
“But at the moment I’m very disappointed. Congratulations to Kyren, a deserved winner.”
Finding himself 55-9 down in the first frame, Hawkins had a chance to battle through as he had against Mark Williams on Saturday, but he was not as ruthless in the opening frame and after some extended safety play with three remaining reds, Wilson was able to sink a red and pull away decisively.
In the second frame Wilson looked likeliest to win but some tough safety play led a seemingly tense Wilson to glance against a brown to bring Hawkins back into contention, and he battled back to force a re-spotted black. Wilson, however, went two-up as he battled past his under-par rival.
Hawkins again struggled in the third frame and the match seemed to be running away from the veteran as he searched for Saturday’s form, and while Wilson was also below his best he did enough to go three clear.
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'Oh dear!' - Hawkins leaves final black hanging as Wilson steals crucial frame
In the fourth frame, Wilson looked on course for an early clean sweep only to see a poor positional shot allow his opponent to steal in and get a 68-54 frame win on the board before the mid-session interval. Wilson may have been concerned at this stage about letting control of the match get away from him as he did, briefly but worryingly, against Ali Carter on Saturday.
After the restart, Hawkins scored the first and second half-century breaks of the match as he won the fifth frame 106-7, cutting the deficit to one.
Wilson was then held up by some more obstructive and obdurate defensive work from Hawkins with the sixth frame not quite lost, but he rallied back to win 73-9.
But Wilson secured the seventh frame even if it wasn’t entirely convincing. After expertly dispatching a long red to put him in business, he contrived to miss a pink. With his opponent requiring two snookers however, it wasn’t long before Wilson was back on the table to secure the frame.
Wilson was straight to business in the final frame of the afternoon session with a break of 56 – the highest of the match so far – and it proved insurmountable as Hawkins failed to make a recovery.
With almost nothing to lose in the evening session, Hawkins appeared more relaxed in the ninth frame of the day as he chalked up a day’s best break of 64 before running out of position, and Wilson would ultimately take full advantage to move to within two frames of victory.
Both players were struggling to get into any kind of rhythm, missing shots they would - more often than not - pot with ease. Hawkins made hard work of it but eventually cleared to the brown ball to secure frame 10 and get one back to make it 7-3.
It was a similar story for Hawkins in the 11th frame as he inexplicably missed a simple black, summing up a ragged display that was in total contrast to his delightful performance the previous evening.
The sloppiness continued in what proved to be the 12th and final frame of the night as Hawkins failed to punish Wilson after he missed a pink. Wilson illuminated a scrappy affair with a stylish red en route to sealing the deal.
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