How Wu Yize became world champion as Lanzhou Lion tames snooker masters with spirit of Alex Higgins - 'I done myself proud'

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You wait ages for a world champion from China, and then two come along at once. But unlike London buses, young Wu Yize's journey towards sporting greatness has no end destination.

'Releasing the emotion now' - Wu wraps up epic final win over Murphy

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His audacious title-winning turn at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield mimicked a burgeoning career suddenly stacked with infinite possibilities.

The remarkable nature of his 18-17 win over a freewheeling Shaun Murphy - only the fourth final-frame decider in the Crucible's 50 stagings of the grand old tournament - in refusing to buckle was arguably more impressive than merely carrying off the sport's greatest trophy.

Born in the Chinese city of Lanzhou in 2003, but based in Sheffield since he was 16, Wu is only 22, the same age as Murphy's Crucible coronation in 2005 when he defeated Matthew Stevens 18-16 as a 150-1 outsider.

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Compared in style to the late Paul Hunter by John Higgins when winning the International Championship with a 10-6 win over the Scot in November for his first major victory, Wu's fearless potting perhaps also reminded a global audience of vintage Judd Trump and Luca Brecel in years gone by.

Trump, the 2019 world champion, saw his all-out attacking strategy come up narrowly short against Higgins (18-15) in 2011, while Brecel largely abandoned his tactical approach to flatten the field before usurping four-time champion Mark Selby (18-15) in the 2023 final.

Wu appeared to find the perfect blend of both potting brilliance and a serene sense of patience to become his country's second successive world champion following Zhao Xintong's historic moment a year ago.

But unlike Zhao's relatively comfortable rise to the sport's greatest trophy culminating in an 18-12 victory over Mark Williams as a qualifier, Wu came through one of sport's ultimate stress tests by finding all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to get the job done.

The new world No. 4 illustrated his rapidly maturing all-round approach as he mixed it with master tactician Selby in a 13-11 win in the last 16, a match which saw the UK champion smash his cue against the table, in tumbling to an unexpected defeat.

And he eclipsed the battle-hardened Mark Allen 17-16 in the semi-finals with a resolve only reserved for the very best.

Selby smacks table after miss - 'Cue made a sickening noise'

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In contesting the longest frame in Crucible history against Allen, the 14th frame lasting a horrific one hour, 40 minutes and 21 seconds, the stylish Wu also proved his staying power.

That was before he was part of the sporting psychodrama of Allen missing a match-ball black off the spot in the 32nd frame to seal a 17-16 win.

Wu then came from 47-0 behind in the final frame to end Allen's hopes with a match-clinching 71, and delivered another wondrous 85 in the final decider to dash Murphy's hope of becoming only the 10th multiple winner of the modern era.

"I think one of my strengths is stepping up in those moments when you have to take a risk," said Wu, whose status as a national sporting treasure was greeted by 40 million views on social media platform Weibo back home.

"Sometimes I just go all in on the attack. It just feels like if I don't score, I'm going to lose. In those moments, I don't overthink it. I just follow my instincts."

In every challenge he faced in Sheffield, Wu found a way to play his way out of a hole - which all the great champions in sport tend to do when they have to look within themselves.

An hour without a pot: Re-live remarkable longest Crucible frame between Wu and Allen

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It was a level of bravery which should see him nicknamed the Lanzhou Lion after becoming king of the snooker jungle by taming some of the game's greatest masters in Selby, Allen and Murphy.

Not that it was much of a surprise to Murphy, who intimated after the contest that he predicted world title riches for Wu after a 5-4 win in the third round of the Xi’an Grand Prix in October.

"I hate being right," he said. "I said sometime earlier in the season when we had a great game out in China somewhere, I won that one.

"But I came out afterwards and said that he would be world champion one day. It's just a real shame that it was today, but I couldn't have given it any more. I couldn't have tried harder."

Murphy, who also saw his Masters defence ended by Wu in a 6-2 defeat at Alexandra Palace in January, had been predicting widespread Chinese success a decade ago when he scrambled past 17-year-old debutant Yan Bingtao 10-8 in the first round of the 2017 World Championship.

Comparing the state of snooker in the UK to the additional time Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United enjoyed back in their days of Premier League dominance, Murphy told this onlooker: "We are well into borrowed time, we are well into 'Fergie Time' to borrow a football analogy.

'I hate being right' - Murphy pays tribute to Wu after defeat in Crucible final

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"Whenever we do a tournament in China, we always do a cue zone out there. The local schools and local government invest in the sport out there. They love snooker, and can't get enough of it.

"When we are over there, we do coaching sessions. And now you start to see it come through.

"They haven't just appeared from nowhere. It hasn't been by mistake that they are over. More are coming in the years ahead."

And in the shape of Zhao and now Wu, more have duly arrived with the latest Crucible king from the Far East, building on his success in becoming world Under-21 champion at the age of only 14.

For the first time in history, China also have two players inside the top five in the world, the most recent world champions.

With a record 11 Chinese players appearing at the Crucible this year, the sport has come a long way since an 18-year-old Ding Junhui won the 2005 UK Championship with a 10-6 victory against Steve Davis.

”I am happy for you, and I am also proud of how far Chinese snooker has come,” said the 2016 Crucible runner-up and trailblazer Ding on Weibo.

'Could not write a script like this' - Allen misses match-ball black and Wu pots it to stay alive

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”From Zhao Xintong to Wu Yize, for two consecutive years, Chinese players have stood atop the podium at the World Championships.

"This is not just a breakthrough, but the dawn of our era.”

Lamenting the lack of investment in snooker at the grassroots level, Murphy also produced a foreboding statement a few years back when he told TNT Sports: "I challenge anybody to try playing a best-of-35 frame match in the Crucible Theatre to understand how testing it is.

"Your heart is racing and pounding. It is a different type of sporting test, but when you see things like Sport England funding fishing and orienteering and the like..."

In the end, snooker has landed a whopper in Wu, with the fans in Sheffield greeting him with the affectionate cry of "Wu, Wu, Wu" every time he takes to the table, such is the high regard for his outlandish ability to pot long balls.

But there remain key times in every tournament that produce sliding doors moments. Both for the victor and the vanquished.

If Allen had knocked in a routine match-ball black off the spot in the semi-finals to reach the final, it could all have been so different for all of those involved.

But the fates perhaps conspired against Murphy as much as the run of the ball in the final frame when he ended up forced to play a tough shot bridging over a yellow that ended up being his last throw of the dice.

It must be said, Murphy was marvellous in Sheffield. He did not lose the final, with Wu winning the match on his own glorious natural ability that was encouraged by studying the snooker GOAT Ronnie O'Sullivan as a kid.

Wu revealed the seven-time world champion messaged him during the final.

"I went out and tried to give myself some time to cool down," Wu told World Snooker. "Ronnie texted me and told me to stay focused, to be calm and also to play to my strengths. I am very happy that I was able to do that.

"He's been helping me so much. He taught me how to handle the situation during the match. How to handle the different situations on the table.

"It is definitely the experience that I have learned from him. I have benefitted from the time I've spent with him a lot.

"I was so happy because I love this sport so much. It is a dream come true. It is so inspiring, and I feel like I have done myself proud."

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After losing five straight frames from 10-7 clear on Sunday evening to trail 12-10 on Monday afternoon, a lot of players would have collapsed under the sheer enormity of the occasion.

But Wu steeled himself to escape from the third session 13-12 ahead, and he would never again trail in the final.

Much is made of the great Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins and his golden do-or-die 69 break against Jimmy White from 15-14 down in the 1982 semi-finals, the year when he won his second world title.

But there was a similar touch of brinkmanship about Wu's theatrics in snooker's theatre of his dreams, even if Wu probably wouldn't know much about the Northern Irish icon.

The final yellow he played with the rest along the baulk cushion leading 64-45 with the frame scores level at 16-16 will live long in the memory.

As will the demanding red he slotted to left centre on his way to a match-winning 85 break, after Murphy was forced to play the dump shot from a tricky position.

He also managed to dispense with the error of missing a black off the spot leading 43-0 and poised to seal victory in the penultimate frame of what became a no-holds-barred green baize gun fight.

The sense of unscripted drama and chaotic purpose was all very much a golden slice of vintage Hurricane Higgins, who like Wu, enjoyed a quick puff between frames.

'What a shot' - Wu pots stunning red to set up winning break in deciding frame

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If he missed either of those balls, Murphy would surely have ended a 21-year wait to join Alex Higgins as a two-time winner of the world title. As it is, his wait goes on.

Despite producing 12 centuries in the tournament, and defeating Fan Zhengyi (10-9), Xiao Guodong (13-3), Zhao Xintong (13-10) and John Higgins (17-15), Murphy's fourth final defeat illustrates the huge difficulty of winning the World Championship. Not once, but twice.

For now, Wu is walking tall, minus the natural battle fatigue which weary and wary men like Murphy have encountered since his maiden title victory 21 years ago.

One can discover vintage form, play all the right shots and still come up short in Sheffield, the ultimate challenge in any cue sport across the world.

The margin between success and failure in snooker is slimmer than Wu.

And slim just left town clutching the greatest prize of them all.