Fightback isn’t enough as Kyren’s Masters hopes end in the first round

The Kettering snooker star found himself 5-0 down in a race to six against 2020 champion Stuart Bingham but pulled it back to 5-3 before eventually losing 6-3 as Bingham made three century breaks on his way to booking a quarter-final clash with Shaun Murphy.

World number 14 Bingham started in fine style with breaks of 102 and 109 to go 2-0 ahead.

Wilson had a clear chance to pull one back but missed the blue to a centre pocket when he trailed 23-21 in frame three, and Bingham punished him to go 3-0 up before runs of 85 and 127 extended his advantage to 5-0.

Wilson hit back with break of 90 and 81 to close to 5-2 and frame eight was resolved with a safety battle on the colours, Wilson converting excellent pots on yellow, green and brown to reduce his deficit.

But the world number eight’s recovery ended in the ninth as a loose safety handed Bingham the chance to knock in a long yellow and he added the green to cross the winning post.

Wilson said: “I still fancied it at 5-0. I didn’t feel as if I did too much wrong, apart from the third frame when I missed chances.

“I was proud of the way I came back, I just played a couple of bad safeties in the last frame.”

And Bingham added: “At 5-0 I was cruising then Kyren showed his true grit and made a fight of it. In the end I was lucky to get through.

“You can’t help having doubts, especially as I have been struggling to get wins this season so the demons start coming out. This gives me a lot of confidence for the next match.”