World Snooker Championship 2026: Wu Yize in control of Crucible final against Shaun...

Wu Yize opened up a 10-7 lead over Shaun Murphy in the World Championship final to put himself on course to become the second-youngest player ever to be crowned a Crucible champion. The 22-year-old is three months younger than Murphy was at the time of his only world title to date in 2005 and would sit only behind Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he triumphed for the first time in 1990. If Wu can hold off the Englishman on Monday, he would also follow in Zhao Xintong's footsteps to become the second successive winner from China. On the evidence of Sunday's second session, that is becoming a realistic prospect for a player who relocated from his home city of Lanzhou with his father as a 16-year-old to pursue his dream. Wu made a scintillating start to the evening, having resumed at 4-4 after an afternoon session that was briefly interrupted by a female spectator jumping over the front-row barrier before referee Rob Spencer and security intervened to remove her. Breaks of 82 and 103 gave him a two-frame advantage and while Murphy, who had earlier recovered from 3-0 down, hit back with a 72 it appeared as though he was struggling to stem the flow of his opponent. Murphy, 43, who is aiming to set a new record for the longest gap between first and second titles, openly admitted that Wu had blasted him off the table at the Masters in January - albeit in a best-of-11 contest. And having never won a match on his two visits to the Crucible prior to this year, Wu has so far has a