Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby storm into World Snooker Championship semi-finals

England's Kyren Wilson plays a shot during day 11 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible. Picture: Zac Goodwin

Kyren Wilson stormed into the semi-finals of the Betfred World Snooker Championship with a 13-8 victory over former champion Neil Robertson.

The pair’s quarter-final was finely poised at 8-8 overnight, but Wilson won five straight frames at the start of their final session to set up a last-four clash with either Judd Trump or Shaun Murphy.

A total clearance of 133 gave Wilson the opening frame after Robertson attempted the break-off shot made popular by Mark Williams, only to hit the pack too hard from the bottom cushion and leave a red to the middle.

Robertson was then unfortunate to inadvertently knock a red into the corner pocket when splitting the pack from the blue and a break of 59 allowed Wilson to extend his lead.

Wilson missed a black off the spot on a break of 62 in the next frame but Robertson surprisingly spurned two easy chances to pot a red and Wilson took advantage to lead 11-8.

Last year’s beaten finalist also won a scrappy 20th frame to leave Robertson needing to win all five remaining frames, but Wilson calmly made a break of 84 after the mid-session interval to seal a comprehensive win.

Meanwhile, Mark Selby also advanced to the semi-finals by thrashing fellow three-time champion Mark Williams with a session to spare.

Resuming with a 6-2 lead, Selby reeled off four frames in a row with the aid of breaks of 96, 58 and 66 before Williams stopped the rot with a run of 79.

However, the Welshman looked resigned to his fate and, despite successfully producing a bizarre four-cushion break-off shot, Selby claimed the three frames he needed to complete a 13-3 victory.