Kettering's Kyren loses out in Gibraltar Open final

The Kettering snooker ace reached his first ranking final of the season with the World Championships just around the corner.

However, it was Milkins who emerged as the winner as he claimed the first ranking title of his 27-year career.

Other than Milkins, no one had more cause to celebrate the day’s results than John Higgins.

The 46-year-old Scot banked the huge £150,000 bonus for topping the BetVictor Series rankings after the eight counting events and Wilson could have leapfrogged Higgins in the race to qualify for the Cazoo Tour Championship by winning the final, but misses out on that eight-man event which starts on Monday in Llandudno.

World number five Wilson, who has now lost seven of his 11 career ranking finals, earned £20,000 as runner-up but will surely see this as an opportunity missed.

The Warrior looked on course to take the opening frame until he missed a tricky black to a top corner on a break of 59, letting Milkins in for an excellent 71 clearance.

The second came down to a long safety battle on the yellow and Wilson, trailing by 19 points, created a chance but then failed to clip the yellow into a baulk corner and Milkins took advantage for 2-0.

Early in frame three, Wilson overcut a red to a centre pocket on 14, and once again his opponent punished him, making 62 which proved enough to put him three up with four to play.

Milkins had a brief glimpse of the finish line in the fourth, but failed to convert a tricky red to a top corner, and Wilson’s 65 made it 3-1.

Another chance came and went for Milkins in the fifth as he missed the pink to a centre pocket when he trailed 27-18, and eventually lost the frame after being trapped in a tough snooker on the last red.

Wilson had the chance to extend the fightback in the sixth, until he missed a difficult pink to centre when he trailed 30-10.

This time there was no mistake from Milkins as he kept his composure in a match-winning run of 44.

Wilson said: “This is a special moment for Rob so congratulations to him.

“I wasn’t there at all, I lost my cueing in the final.

“If I had taken the first frame I might have settled and left Rob cold, but he made a really good clearance.

“After that it was very twitchy. I tried to make a fight of it from 3-0.”

The World Championships at the Crucible, in which 30-year-old Wilson has reached the semi-finals and final in the past two years, get under way on April 16 with the draw taking place two days earlier on April 14.