Clinical Wilson pulls clear against Gilbert in semi-final

Kyren Wilson produced a clinical display of potting to open up a 14-10 lead over David Gilbert in their World Championship semi-final.

Having resumed at 8-8, both players compiled half-century breaks in a continuation of a fiercely contested and high-quality affair, in front of a capacity crowd at the Crucible Theatre.

World number 12 Wilson then pulled clear with breaks of 93, 51 and 88 as he punished uncharacteristic errors from his opponent to win five consecutive frames before Gilbert replied with a superb 101.

Their best-of-33 encounter will be played to a conclusion on Saturday from 14:30 BST.

Meanwhile, 2015 champion Stuart Bingham and Wales' Jak Jones are level at 8-8 after two hard-fought sessions of their last-four match.

Wilson, who reached the final in 2020, came into this contest buoyed by the convincing manner of his 13-8 victory against four-time champion John Higgins in the last eight.

However, he struggled to break free in their first two sessions as Gilbert matched the only seed left in the tournament in almost every department.

Gilbert, a 2019 semi-finalist, produced a sublime 129 break and enjoyed runs of 92 and 106 on Friday afternoon but the world number 31 was unable to replicate that form in the evening session.

A missed black to the left corner was ruthlessly punished by Wilson in the 19th frame and misses on the yellow and brown in the next appeared to jolt Gilbert's confidence as Wilson grew visibly stronger.

To his credit, Gilbert rallied to end the session on a high note with his 10th century of the tournament, but he will now need a fast start on Saturday if he is to prevent Wilson from claiming the three frames he requires to reach the final.

Having resumed at 4-4 overnight, Bingham, 47, who is looking for his second world title, made the more composed start in a match that has revolved around tough matchplay snooker.

Breaks of 79 and a wonderful century saw the Englishman take a two-frame advantage.

But Jones, who is playing in his first Crucible semi-final, responded in fine style.

The Welshman enjoyed runs of 67 and 68 as he reeled off the next three frames to edge ahead for the first time in the match, before Bingham took a nervy 14th frame.

A break of 69 saw Jones briefly regain his lead, but when he took eight attempts to get out of a snooker in the 16th frame, Bingham was able to capitalise and get back on level terms.