Female spectator physically ejected at a fractious Crucible as Wu Yize takes three-frame lead into Monday

A female spectator was swiftly ejected by security officials after starting to shout out midway through the third frame of the match, and appeared to be prevented from entering the arena by the quick-thinking Spencer.

It followed a similar disruption late in Saturday night’s semi-final between Wu and Mark Allen, in which an audience member shouted out, “Never forget the Epstein files” and was also escorted from the arena.

In a separate incident, Murphy threw down his rest in disgust after missing a green in the second frame, having seemingly been distracted by a phone ringing.

The incident prompted Spencer to address the audience at the end of the frame, warning: “Make sure your phones are on silent, or switched off. Don’t be the person who has to be thrown out.”

A protester disrupts and is subsequently stopped by the referee during Wu Yize's and Shaun Murphy's final at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Picture date: Sunday May 3, 2026. PA Photo. (Mike Egerton/PA Wire)

Wu chiselled out an early 3-0 lead against the out-of-sorts Murphy, but the 2005 champion belatedly recovered his poise and the Chinese player had to hit back in order to finish a poor quality session all square at 4-4.

Wu took the opening frames despite never looking entirely comfortable and it was little surprise when Murphy stirred, a break of 85 sending him into the interval in a much happier mood then breaks of 90 and 77 pulling him level.

Wu was suddenly looking fragile, missing easy shots and reluctant to go for his trademark long pots, and the experienced Murphy sensed weakness, powering in the first century of the final to extend Wu’s agony.

The Chinese player rallied in afternoon’s final frame, firing nine reds and eight blacks before jawing a black to the middle pocket and riding his luck as Murphy’s protracted search for snookers came to nothing.

The Chinese 22-year-old produced a stunning display of long potting and composed break-building to edge clear of the 2005 champion with a last-frame clearance in the evening session of 91, handing him a deserved 10-7 advantage.

Frequent phone interruptions irritated Murphy, leading Spencer to show no mercy by turfing out a spectator whose device went off during the evening session.

And the evening session proved a different beast as Wu, bidding to become the second-youngest player to win the tournament after Stephen Hendry, blasted back out of the blocks.

Breaks of 82 and 103 saw him establish a 6-4 lead, and he retained his two-frame advantage at the interval after cancelling out Murphy’s well-taken response of 75 in the 11th frame.

Murphy continued to look ill at ease as Wu returned to extend his lead with another exhilarating break of 89, but the 43-year-old capitalised well on a fluked red with a break of 70 to arrest Wu’s surge.

After splitting the next two frames, Murphy fashioned a strong chance to escape the evening just one adrift, but played a poor shot after taking a lead of 39, leaving the stage for Wu to ram in another brilliant long red and finish the night the much happier man.

Wu’s stunning assault on this year’s Crucible crown earned rich praise from Hendry, on punditry duties for the BBC, who said: “He’s just brilliant. He just plays the game properly. He just goes for his shots.”

Fellow multiple world champion Steve Davis added: “The game’s changing, and the likes of Wu Yize are changing the face of snooker by making it much more aggressive, and the players coming through, they’ve got to copy this, because you can’t play safe.”