KYREN WILSON has hinted at the reason behind Luca Brecel’s poor form.
The Belgian cueman has struggled since becoming the world champion in 2023.
Brecel, 29, has failed to hit the similar heights since his World Championship victory.
He was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Masters in a thrilling match against Wilson.
Wilson ran out as the 6-4 winner but was left scratching his head over Brecel’s choice of chalk during the match.
He told Eurosport: “I’m trying to deal with Luca’s chalk.
“You know, that’s the main thing for me tonight, and I’m so proud of myself that I didn’t let it affect me. I let it bother me in Saudi.
“When you’re twisting a ball with side spin with the old chalk, there’s every possibility you’re going to get a kick, every possibility and I’m thinking that on the shot and that’s what it does to you.
“There’s so much chalk dust in all of the cushions, all over the balls. There’s chalk trails all over the cloth.
“I had the white cleaned God knows how many times tonight because I didn’t want it to affect me.
“I just don’t understand it. I understand it from Ronnie [O’Sullivan]’s point of view because it’s what he’s grown up with, he’s played with it forever.”
Wilson will come up against Judd Trump in the semi-final on Saturday.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Moment Mark Selby pretends to hit snooker rival Mark Allen with cue during Masters defeat ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6367230911112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]But he continued to insist that he could “not get his head around” why Brecel had changed his chalk.
Wilson claimed that his rival should revert back to the one that helped him with the World Championship in a bid to regain his form.
He added: “Luca won the World Championship with the Pyro. Why not stick with what you won the World Championship with? I don’t understand it.
“If I was being a friend – because I love Luca, he’s a great lad – I’d advise him to go back to how he won the World Championships.
“He had a couple of kicks that cost him a couple of frames, so I just can’t get my head around it.”