Kyren Wilson builds commanding 6-2 lead over Barry Hawkins, in touching distance of European Masters glory

Kyren Wilson has an borderline unassailable 6-2 lead over Barry Hawkins going into the evening interval of the 2022 European Masters final in Furth. Wilson took both the opening and final frames of the mid-session interval, giving himself breathing space as he looks to complete a hat-trick of ranking titles in Germany, following his triumphs at the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic and 2019 German Masters.

Ad He needs just three more frames to take his fifth ranking title. European Masters'Oh dear!' — Hawkins leaves final black hanging as Wilson steals crucial frame2 HOURS AGO Finding himself 55-9 down in the first frame, Hawkins had a chance to battle through as he had against Mark Williams on Saturday, but he was not as ruthless in the opening frame and after some extended safety play with three remaining reds, Wilson was able to sink a red and pull away decisively.

In the second frame Wilson looked likeliest to win but some tough safety play led a seemingly tense Wilson to glance against a brown to bring Hawkins back into contention, and he battled back to force a re-spotted black. Wilson, however, went two-up as he battled past his under-par rival.

Hawkins again struggled in the third frame and the match seemed to be running away from the veteran as he searched for Saturday’s form, and while Wilson was also below his best he did enough to go three clear. In the fourth frame, Wilson looked on course for an early clean sweep only to see a poor positional shot allow his opponent to steal in and get a 68-54 frame win on the board before the mid-session interval.

Wilson may have been concerned at this stage about letting control of the match get away from him as he did, briefly but worryingly, against Ali Carter on Saturday. After