GARY WILSON was always confident he would enjoy some spectacular days on the snooker table – and now the North-Easterner’s faith has been justified.

Wilson, who hails from Wallsend, celebrated the biggest win of his career at the weekend as he beat three-time winner Mark Selby to book a place in the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible.

The 33-year-old held his nerve to close out a 13-10 victory over Selby and set up a last-eight meeting with either Ali Carter, another former World finalist, or Zhou Yuelong.

A one-time taxi driver, Wilson came close to quitting snooker on a number of occasions as he struggled to climb high enough in the rankings to secure a place at the major tournaments.

However, he always felt he could be a force at the highest level, and his refusal to give in has finally paid off.

“I’ve been close to quitting many times,” said Wilson. “Like most professionals who have ever played the game, there have been many times when I wondered if that was it. Deep down in my gut, though, I always knew I was good enough, in some capacity, to do something in this game.

“I knew I could make a living, and play the game that I want to play. But there are times where you literally can’t pot a ball and are all over the place in your head, and you just think, ‘What’s the point? I can’t even play’.”

Wilson outperformed Selby throughout the pair’s second-round game, although he had to endure a few nervy moments after his opponent won the first two frames of Saturday’s final session to level the game at 9-9.

The duo exchanged the next two frames to make it 10-10, but breaks of 86 and 92 helped Wilson claim the next three frames to book a quarter-final spot.

“It’s not so much the best performance of my career, but it’s definitely the best result of my career so far,” he said. “I’m absolutely over the moon to win that game.

“Mark missed a few, I missed a few, and it got a little bit scrappy at times. But I thought I held my nerve quite well, and that basically got me over the line. There was a couple of easy chances late on, and I was just trying to keep things as simple as possible.”

With Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan both having crashed out before the last eight, there is a good chance this year’s World Championships could see an unseeded player like Wilson go all the way.

Neil Robertson, the new favourite for the crown, is in the opposite half of the draw, and having exited despite being the number three seed, Selby admits the complexion of the tournament has changed.

“It’s hard to see an underdog winning because it’s such a tough tournament to win, but it’s obviously opened up,” said Selby. “The bottom half has definitely opened up. At one stage, the bottom half was looking like a bloodbath, but now it’s definitely opened up.

“That puts more pressure on the seeds when they look at the draw. You’ve still got (Ali) Carter in this quarter, and he’s been to the final before and knows what it takes. Whoever wins it will deserve it because it’s a tough tournament to win.”