Kyren Wilson and Ricky Walden are set to go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all contest at the Six-red World Championship on Wednesday. The English duo are arguably in the tightest group of this year’s tournament, locked together on one point alongside Thepchaiya Un-Nooh of Thailand and Icelandic amateur Kristjan Helgason.
With only the top two from each group making it through to the knockout stages, Wilson and Walden know they face a crunch scenario when they clash in Bangkok. World number 13 Wilson, who made it to the fourth round of the recent Paul Hunter Classic, is participating in the Six-red tournament for the first time. This is in stark contrast to Walden, who won the first ever edition of the tournament in 2008 and has gone to reach the final of the event on two more occasions, most recently in 2014.
However, Walden is ranked 11 places below Wilson in the current world standings and also lost the last time the two players met in the 2016 Championship League. Walden did secure a win when the two players clashed on the biggest stage of all when he triumphed 10-7 at the Crucible in 2014. The other match in the group will see home favourite Un-Nooh come up against Helgason in what will also be a winner-takes-all contest.
Snooker odds available at Dafabet.