Key events
Preamble
Team sports offer us a simple life: we pick one or one picks us, the end. Individual sports, though, are different: on the one hand, who we enjoy doesn’t describe us in the same way but, on the other, it allows us the gift of wanting the best for everyone, the tribalism still present but with all of us gathered as one.
It is not, for example, necessarily easy to vibe with Shaun Murphy, his smarts that make the soul sing sometimes encroaching into smarms that make the teeth itch. But no one can challenge what he’s given to this thing of ours, love of the game – yes, and love of himself, a valuable lesson – radiating through him and into us. He wants a second world title as badly as anyone has ever wanted anything, and should he get it, his smooth, natural, beautiful style will deserve it and then some.
Wu Yize, meanwhile, is a very different character, a fearless and improvisational maverick whose strut is sometimes undermined by nerves. If Zhao Xintong, last year’s champion, is early Beatles, all smiles, mischief and revolutionary pop perfection, he is Bob Dylan, an edgy, incendiary, compelling talent who leaves nothing out.
At just 22, he has plenty of improving still to do and, had you asked me even two weeks ago I’d have said I didn’t think he was quite ready to claim the big pot – he only took his first ranking title in November, having been sapped by the occasion in his first two final appearances. But here we are and here he is, after getting by Mark Selby and, somehow, Mark Allen, almost in spite of himself.
The beauty of a long match is the potential for fluctuations in form and dominance, but Wu will know that there are few more bullying front-runners than Shaun who, when grooved as he is now, is capable of almost anything on a 12×6. Similarly, though, it won’t have escaped Shaun’s attention that he is facing a one-off capable of seeing and executing shots others do not and cannot.
And, either way, though it’s impossible to say with any confidence who’ll be celebrating tomorrow evening, the legend or the future legend, the big winner is already clear: us.
Play: 1pm BST