Scottish Open 2022: Gary Wilson takes advantage of Joe O'Connor errors to hold lead after first session of final
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Published 04/12/2022 at 16:00 GMT
Gary Wilson will take a lead into the second session of the Scottish Open final after getting the better of Joe O'Connor on Sunday afternoon. Wilson was clinical when he got to the table throughout the session, and O'Connor has a long road to get back into the match. Stream the 2023 Masters and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+.
Gary Wilson makes second century of Scottish Open final against Joe O’Connor
Gary Wilson seized control of the Scottish Open final, as he secured a 6-2 lead over Joe O’Connor after the first session.
Both players entered the arena at the Meadowbank Sports Centre on Sunday knowing victory later in the day would be their first success in a ranking final.
The pair settled after early jitters and produced an excellent standard of play.
O’Connor produced the flashier pots, but he also made the bigger errors and Wilson made him pay to eke out a four-frame lead in the race to nine - with the final to play to a conclusion on Sunday evening.
There were early nerves, with both players squandering chances in the opener. O’Connor’s missed red to bottom right was the costliest as Wilson settled into the contest with an excellent break of 102.
O’Connor responded superbly in the second. He knocked in a red similar to the one he missed in the first and went on to reply with a 99 for his first frame in a ranking final.
A series of sparkling pots featured on the showreel of O’Connor’s win over Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. He produced another, a long red to bottom left, to get on the move in the third. Frame-ball pink to left middle failed to drop as he broke down on 64, and paid the price as Wilson countered with a 67 to take the frame.
There was a concerning moment for O’Connor in the fourth as, after Wilson had broken down and presented his opponent with a chance, he hit the wrong side of a red on an attempted pot. Wilson took full advantage to secure a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.
O’Connor could arguably have felt unfortunate to be behind at the interval as only a couple of missed pots cost him. He came out strongly upon the resumption to take the fifth frame, albeit after a counter from Wilson was halted in its tracks by a missed blue.
It was O’Connor who made the early running in the sixth, knocking in good pots and playing decent safety. But he could never get perfect position and a missed red handed the chance to Wilson who stepped in with his second ton of the match - a 102 - to restore a two-frame advantage.
The first notable slice of luck of the final went O’Connor’s way in the seventh frame, as a red wriggled in the jaws of the bottom right before shooting along the top rail and dropping into the bottom left.
Receiving luck is one thing, taking advantage is another. O’Connor did not cash in as he missed an elementary red to break down on 33 and an even simpler pink later in the frame as Wilson extended his lead to three.
O’Connor’s problems in the match began with a missed pink to left middle. His afternoon ended on a low note when an identical pot failed to drop as a promising break was halted at 44.
Wilson had acted like an ice-cool predator, and he stepped in once again with a break of 74 to work a four-frame advantage going into the evening session, which will resume at 7pm UK time.
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Stream the 2023 Masters and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch Seventh Heaven, a two-part show about Ronnie O’Sullivan’s historic World Championship win last season, on demand now.
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