Judd Trump scrapped his way into the Masters quarter-finals (Picture: Getty Images)
Kyren Wilson was left ‘absolutely sick’ after a dramatic 6-5 defeat to Judd Trump on the final black in the opening round of The Masters.
It was an epic struggle between the pair, with spells of brilliance from both, but both struggling at times and the balls running very awkward.
Wilson ran into a 3-0 lead early on, but then lost five frames on the spin and looked in serious trouble before digging his heels in.
The Warrior stopped the rot and then produced an immense clearance of 58 in the 10th frame to force a decider. Wilson made 51 and looked to have one foot in the next round, but lost position and missed a tricky red to middle.
The defending champion was fortunate to have a thin gap to get the cue ball through and pot that same red, then made a superb 65 clearance of his own to secure a huge win.
‘I’m absolutely sick,’ Wilson told Eurosport. ‘I could be a robot and try and be professional but I’m fuming to be honest, I should never have lost that match.
‘I can’t believe I’ve left the red through the gap. Every credit to Judd, it’s hard to hold yourself together even if the balls are there.
‘I always think I’m so close. Your playing the defending champion and he’s nicked it on the black so you can’t be doing too much wrong. But I don’t want to just be here losing 6-5 on the black, I want to be winning these events. This is what I’ve turned professional for, this is what gets the juices flowing. I think I’m going to go and hibernate for two weeks.’
Kyren Wilson had a very frustrating afternoon at Alexandra Palace (Picture: Getty Images)
Trump admitted he was struggling with nerves in his Ally Pally opener, as he does sometimes in first rounds, but expects to improve in the quarter-finals.
‘I felt quite nervy out there from the start. I think most of the time when my cue ball’s not good it’s down to nerves,’ he said.
‘My game is good. Just sometimes I come here, like last year, I’m not fully relaxed in that first round and I struggle.
‘You’d think now with my experience you’d get over the nerves, but coming here and the World Championship, the UK, it’s a different feeling, you just don’t want to go out in the first round.
‘I’ve never been someone who’s flown in the first round, I take a while to get into it, so hopefully now I go away and put in a couple of day’s practice and look forward to the next game.’
On his brilliant clearance to win the match the defending champion said: ‘There must be something about this venue, I felt like I just needed a chance to get out there and clear up.’
Trump will likely have to up his game in the next round when he takes on Ali Carter, who looked very good in his opening win.
The Captain knocked in two centuries on his way to beating Mark Williams 6-4 and will be relishing the chance to get back out there at Alexandra Palace on Friday.
MORE : Barry Hawkins on Masters memories, motivation struggles and Neil Robertson’s ‘strange’ season
MORE : Kyren Wilson looking to learn from Masters opponent Judd Trump
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‘I could be a robot and try and be professional but I’m fuming.’