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| - Kyren Wilson produced a stellar display to take command of his World Snooker Championship semi-final against Shaun Murphy and lead 6-2 after the opening session. Wilson, the runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan in last year's tournament at the Crucible, posted three century breaks and at one stage delivered 248 unanswered points to open up a four-frame lead. Murphy could have ended the evening with a 5-3 deficit after a rare Wilson error let him in, but he missed a crucial red into the centre pocket and the 2005 champion will have to improve in Friday's second session if he is to get back into the match. After Murphy won the opening frame, Wilson got into his groove, posting three centuries in four frames to move 5-1 up. Murphy stopped the rot with a gritty half-century break before Wilson took the final frame of the opening session. The quality of snooker on show was a big contrast to the first semi-final, which was dominated by complaints over the table and a possibly defective cue ball blamed for some scrappy early play at the Crucible. From the off three-time former champion Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham, the 2015 winner, noticed the ball was not behaving as they expected as they found themselves out of position on a number of shots with the white regularly coming up short. At the interval the match referee spoke to both players, the table was brushed heavily and the cue ball was changed. Selby had coped better with the strange conditions as, having lost the first frame to a 60 break by his opponent, he took a 3-1 lead into the first interval. Bingham looked a different player when they returned. A 92-break - the highest of the afternoon - immediately made it 3-2 before in the next frame Selby's foul offered Bingham the chance to level things up with a break of 38 Bingham breezed through the seventh with a run of 82 but after missing a brown on a break of 42, Selby responded to take the final frame and maintain his record of not being behind at the end of a session in the current championship. kca/dj
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