Kyren Wilson admits he had to pre-warn his two sons ahead of facing Ronnie O’Sullivan at Shanghai Masters

KYREN WILSON had to pre-warn his two boys he would be the underdog against Ronnie O’Sullivan inside the Shanghai Den. But over in China, the Warrior overcame the crowd favourite in snooker‘s season opener – his seventh win in their past eight meetings. Kyren Wilson of England plays a shot in the second round match against Ronnie O’Sullivan Credit: Getty A frustrated Ronnie O’Sullivan watches on in Shanghai Credit: Getty A 6-4 victory in the last 16 saw Wilson, the world No7, advance to the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals where he will meet Mark Williams, another Class of 92 graduate, on Thursday. It was a high-class match with Wilson scoring breaks of 113, 91, 89, 79 and a closing 97, while O’Sullivan, 50, rattled in consecutive ton-plus breaks of 100, 111 and 131. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! Though Wilson, 34, is the defending champion and the Rocket is a fading force these days, it was obvious who the punters were behind. The 2024 world champion, whose boys are aged eight and 11, said: “It’s always great playing in Shanghai, and it’s always playing somebody as class as Ronnie O’Sullivan. “You know that the crowd are going to turn out in numbers when he’s playing. “It inspires me. It makes me want to play good snooker and obviously I’m trying to defend my title. “I’ve also got my kids out here with me. I wanted to show them how amazing the snooker is out here. Hopefully they enjoyed that one. “I had to pre-warn them tonight that the crowd were going to be heavily on Ronnie’s side. Most read in Sport List of all-time Snooker World Champions BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year. The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport. The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport. Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period. Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each. 1969 – John Spencer 1970 – Ray Reardon 1971 – John Spencer 1972 – Alex Higgins 1973 – Ray Reardon (2) 1974 – Ray Reardon (3) 1975 – Ray Reardon (4) 1976 – Ray Reardon (5) 1977 – John Spencer (2) 1978 – Ray Reardon (6) 1979 – Terry Griffiths 1980 – Cliff Thorburn 1981 – Steve Davis 1982 – Alex Higgins (2) 1983 – Steve Davis (2) 1984 – Steve Davis (3) 1985 – Dennis Taylor 1986 – Joe Johnson 1987 – Steve Davis (4) 1988 – Steve Davis (5) 1989 – Steve Davis (6) 1990 – Stephen Hendry 1991 – John Parrott 1992 – Stephen Hendry (2) 1993 – Stephen Hendry (3) 1994 – Stephen Hendry (4) 1995 – Stephen Hendry (5) 1996 – Stephen Hendry (6) 1997 – Ken Doherty 1998 – John Higgins 1999 – Stephen Hendry (7) 2000 – Mark Williams 2001 – Ronnie O’Sullivan 2002 – Peter Ebdon 2003 – Mark Williams (2) 2004 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 2005 – Shaun Murphy 2006 – Graeme Dott 2007 – John Higgins (2) 2008 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (3) 2009 – John Higgins (3) 2010 – Neil Robertson 2011 – John Higgins (4) 2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (4) 2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (5) 2014 – Mark Selby 2015 – Stuart Bingham 2016 – Mark Selby (2) 2017 – Mark Selby (3) 2018 – Mark Williams (3) 2019 – Judd Trump 2020 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (6) 2021 – Mark Selby (4) 2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan (7) 2023 – Luca Brecel 2024 – Kyren Wilson 2025 – Zhao Xintong 2026 – Wu Yize Most World Titles (modern era) 7 – Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan 6 – Ray Reardon, Steve Davis 4 – John Higgins, Mark Selby 3 – John Spencer, Mark Williams 2 – Alex Higgins “It’s nothing against me but he’s such a legend out here. My kids are keen on their snooker, so I’m sure they’ll have enjoyed that one. “My kids are so lucky, they don’t know they are born, at eight or 11, to be visiting places like Shanghai – what an incredible experience and adventure.” Neil Robertson watched China’s Xiao Guodong hit a 147 – the fifth maximum of the new baize campaign – in frame three but despite falling 5-2 down, he rallied to progress 6-5 into the last eight. The Australian cueist, 44, said: “The way he started off, he played really well. There wasn’t much I could do about it at the interval. “But I’m really happy with how I came back and the way I was able to close it out in that last frame.” Comment now