Wales' Jak Jones stuns snooker to reach World Championship final and win fortune

Wales' Jak Jones has stunned the sport of snooker, remarkably clinching a spot in the World Snooker Championship final after defeating former champion Stuart Bingham with a 17-12 victory at the Crucible Theatre.

The world number 44, who had never before made it to a ranking final, is set to go head-to-head with Kyren Wilson in the two-day final beginning Sunday. Wilson secured his place by beating David Gilbert 17-11.

Jones' journey to the final was hard-fought, having battled through two qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw. His success marks him as only the ninth qualifier in the past 47 years to reach the Crucible final.

It also means the man from Cwmbran has won £200,000 for reaching the final, with half a million on offer to the winner, who will be crowned on Monday.

Speaking about his unexpected success, Jones expressed his astonishment: "It's crazy, it was totally unexpected coming into the tournament," he remarked. "I don't think I've played particularly well. I've watched the world final every year on TV at home and to be in it doesn't feel real yet, it hasn't sunk in."

Despite Bingham narrowing the gap to 13-11 at the start of the evening session, a pivotal moment came when he erred while playing safe on the green, allowing Jones to clear up and regain a three-frame advantage.

Jones held onto his lead throughout several challenging frames in a match that extended beyond 12 hours. He then took advantage of a missed black by Bingham to move within one frame of victory, achieving this with a composed 70 break.

Bingham's continued mistakes gave Jones the opening he needed in the subsequent frame, which he won in two visits, sealing his incredible progression to the final.

"I don't feel that excited to be honest," Jones admitted with a shrug. "I suppose I should, but I've had so much disappointment so far in my career that I don't get particularly excited. I don't get too down, and when I do win, no matter how big it is, I just feel like it's job done."

In earlier action, 12th seed Wilson needed only three of the four frames in Saturday's session to secure his victory over Gilbert, setting him up for another shot at glory after his 2020 final defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan.