with video
China’s Wu Yize has been crowned world snooker champion for the first time at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. In the final, the barely 22-year-old Chinese won 18-17 against Shaun Murphy after a real nail-biter. Wu Yize is the second youngest world snooker champion ever, even though he had never won a World Cup match until this year.
Wu and Murphy both performed at a particularly high level. On Sunday, Wu immediately took a 3-0 lead with attractive and attacking snooker, but after the first session the score was in balance again (4-4). On Sunday evening, Wu took a 10-7 lead again, but on Monday afternoon he had a dip.
Murphy won five frames in a row with breaks of 76, 52, 59 and 60, Wu then recovered with breaks of 64 and 61 and entered the final session with a small lead (13-12). He started it with an 88 break, but Murphy pulled alongside again with a break of 82 (14-14).
The next frames were neatly distributed, with Wu potting away breaks of 70, 56 and 91, which Murphy answered with 65, 131 and 75. In the 34th frame, Wu seemed to decide the match, until he paid too much attention to his position and missed an easy black ball. This resulted in an all-decisive frame. Wu finished it off with an 85 break.
After the International Championship earlier this season, it is only the second ranking title for Wu. He had not even won a match in the Crucible before this year. In his previous two participations, in 2023 and 2025, he was eliminated in the first round each time.
At 22 years old, Wu is also the second youngest world snooker champion ever. Only Stephen Hendry was slightly younger at 21 in 1990. However, the Chinese remained calm and modest after his triumph. He dedicated the victory to his parents. “They are the real champions. They supported me when I decided to leave school. They made me strong, I love them very much.”
Wu follows in the footsteps of compatriot Zhao Xintong, who was the best last year. The world title also earned Wu 500,000 pounds (about 579,000 euros). As a result, he rises from tenth to fourth place on the Order of Merit. Murphy became 200,000 pounds (231,000 euros) richer and climbed from 6th to 8th place. Judd Trump remains number 1 in the world.
