London (AFP) - Luca Brecel staged one of the most astonishing comebacks in snooker history as he won 11 frames in a row against China's Si Jiahui to reach the World Championship final with a remarkable 17-15 win on Saturday.
The Belgian, who won seven frames in a row after coming from behind to beat seven-times world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, looked all but beaten at 14-5 behind against the 20-year-old Si.
But he began his astounding rally by winning the final five frames of Friday's evening session and carried on from where he left off Saturday to end Si's bid to become the youngest finalist at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre and the first debutant world champion since Wales' Terry Griffiths back in 1979.
Brecel was the first player in Crucible history to overturn a nine-frame deficit and this win saw him into his first world final, with the 28-year-old having never previously got past the first round.