Gary Wilson (pictured) held a commanding lead over Joe O’Connor at the end of the afternoon session in the best-of-17 frame final of the BetVictor Scottish Open at Meadowbank.
The 37-year-old from Wallsend, who has a Scottish mother from Kelty in Fife, held a 3-1 advantage at the mid-session break before a packed crowd and increased his lead further at the end of the afternoon session to 6-2.
The man nicknamed the Tyneside Terror got off to a flyer after Leicester-based O’Connor, playing in his first ranking final, failed with a red into the middle right pocket. Wilson gratefully received the gift to compile a break of 102 in six spellbinding minutes.
But O’Connor refused to be rattled and stepped in when Wilson failed when a red to the bottom right stayed above ground. He opened with a long red into the bottom left, then took the black and split the reds and pushed on. He moved on to 70 with a delicate red into the middle and then a cut on the blue took him to 90 with two reds left.
O’Connor was in sight of a three figures, potting a red into the bottom cushion but then missed a black into the bottom left. The 11-minute break, however, took him level at 1-1.
Frame three was a thriller. O’Connor compiled a ten-minute break which ended on 64 with an attempt to pot the pink into the middle right pocket.
Wilson, who has been runner-up in two ranking tournaments, then took charge, the 37-year-old picking off the remaining balls for a four-minute break of 67 to sneak the frame by three points at 67-64.
The last frame before the break was eventful. Wilson potted a red but did not see any options available so he deftly positioned the cue ball behind the brown which was on its spot.
O’Connor missed on four occasions, coming up centimetres short each time, but succeeded by kissing a red near the bottom cushion on his fifth attempt but had provided a valuable 17 points for his opponent.
Wilson, ranked No 32, then moved in and broke to 41 before he missed a red into the bottom left, the cue ball, however, appeared tight to the cushion hampering his cue action.
O’Connor failed to capitalise and the man from Tyneside was back at the table and took the frame 88-0 for a 3-1 scoreline at the mid-session break.
The man from the Midlands, ranked No 55, however, came out flying, moving to 45 before Wilson returned to the table. He failed to score but O’Connor bagged a long red into the green pocket to start another break.
In went the blue. A sizeable break was on but he rattled the jaws with a long blue which stayed in view. Scoreline 51-7. Wilson made hay to claim the frame, a break which included a deftly played black along the bottom cushion. Overall scoreline 3-2 in favour of Wilson.
And Wilson moved two frames ahead when he took the sixth with a break of 102, and the next. Frame eight saw O’Connor move 44-0 ahead but he missed pink to the middle bag and that proved costly and Wilson cleaned up with a break of 74 for 6-2.
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