Kyren's hopes are hit by a severe car accident

Kyren Wilson felt being involved in a severe car accident was the big reason for ‘the worst performance of his life’ at the Scottish Open.

The Kettering player was thrashed 5-1 by world No.80 Jamie Jones in the quarter-finals but had his Mercedes GLE 43 written off by a van driver earlier in the day.

Wilson, the world No.5, was driving to his local snooker club in Northampton when the incident happened and had to swap cars with his wife to make it to Milton Keynes in time.

The World Championship runner-up then overslept his alarm and slammed the dire preparation for his worst ever display.

The shaken 28-year-old said: “That was probably the worst performance of my life.

“Unfortunately, I was sat on the side of a road for about three hours in the afternoon. My day couldn’t have got any worse. I just felt like I couldn’t pot a ball.

“Unfortunately, that’s affected my performance . It was a Romanian van driver in the wrong lane. I think he thought he was still driving elsewhere, and didn’t really know how to take the roundabout. He wrote my car off. Hopefully my back and neck aren’t as sore as they are now.

“My wife had to avoid the nursey run, sit on the side of the road for me for the next couple of hours and swap cars until a recovery truck towed my car away.

“I had a nap and my alarm just didn’t go off and I woke up at 6 30pm. It’s the worst (preparation I’ve ever had), without a shadow of a doubt.

“I hit balls for about 10 minutes and it’s just nowhere near good enough for a match of this standard. I just felt so rusty because of it.

“I didn’t feel like I was in any sort of rhythm, but it’s just one o those things and was really unfortunate.”

Wilson, a four-time ranking event winner, will now go in search of a hire car ahead of next week’s World Grand Prix in Milton Keynes.

On the Marshall Arena table, the Northamptonshire player cut a dejected figure as he slumped to a heavy defeat against the Welsh underdog.

Jones is returning to the professional tour this year after serving a one-year ban for failing to report knowledge of approaches of match fixing.

But he showed no signs of rustiness as three-half century breaks repelled Wilson’s fourth frame 50 and hauled him into his third career semi-final.

Wilson has now suffered four quarter-final defeats this season as he bids to claim his fifth ranking event title on the snooker circuit.

He was gutted with the way his Scottish Open ended but hopes getting his hands on a hire care can catapult him to trophies in future.

“I feel like I’ve been flying, and I fancied really doing well this week,” he added.

“It’s just so frustrating. My game’s been in really good form, and it just wasn’t meant to be.

“I’ve got to try and out sort out a hire car and hopefully I’m okay to play in the Grand Prix!”

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