His victory means China have a finalist for a second successive yr and it vindicates his determination to maneuver to the UK as a 16-year-old to pursue his dream.
Wu, who initially lived in a windowless flat and slept on the identical mattress as his father after the transfer, is now only one win away from the game’s greatest prize and a winner’s cheque of £500,000.
And judging by the way he superior previous Peifan Lei, Mark Selby, Hossein Vafaei and now Allen, he appears prepared comply with to within the footsteps of final yr’s champion Zhao Xintong – having been tipped as a future world champion by each Ronnie O’Sullivan and Murphy.
“I really feel I’m nonetheless not recovering from the nerves. I really feel sorry for Mark,” stated Wu after his triumph.
“I felt like I used to be shedding the match, particularly the second black in that body. However I used to be in a position to take the chance.
“Within the final session I made some errors in security play after which in direction of the tip I used to be fortunate. I need to give my greatest efforts and all the things I’ve bought to attempt to win the World Championship.”
For a lot of the night Allen had held himself collectively throughout a number of charming frames, which by no means threatened to teeter in direction of Friday’s gruelling second session between the pair – which produced the longest body ever performed on the sport’s most well-known venue.
The previous Masters and UK Champion loved runs of 82 and 57 as he edged in entrance 3 times solely to be pegged again at 14-14 by Wu, who hardly ever deviated from his attacking type and was rewarded with breaks of fifty, 126 and 74.
Allen regained the initiative with a composed 65, and when Wu missed a purple to the left center whereas on 58, it allowed his opponent to ship a devastating riposte to maneuver 16-14 up.
However with the successful line in sight Allen twitched on a purple to the center within the following body to set in chain a outstanding sequence of occasions.
Northern Irishman Allen had been aiming to change into the oldest first-time finalist in Crucible historical past, having misplaced within the semi-finals twice beforehand.
Nonetheless, on the age of 40 and with 20 failed makes an attempt to win snooker’s best prize behind him, he could now be left questioning whether or not his time will ever come.
