Kyren Wilson issued an apology to the crowd after his 9-1 ManBetX Welsh Open final defeat against Shaun Murphy.

The Kettering potter succumbed to a clinical onslaught from the world No.10 at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, who raced into a ruthless 7-1 lead at the interval before late breaks of 102 and 73 ended a disappointing night for the 28-year-old.

The world No.8 had previously beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan and 14-time ranking event winner Ding Junhui earlier in the week, as well as hitting a maximum 147 break in his first round match against Jackson Page.

But despite his impressive week at the final Home Nations event of the season, Wilson believes he let the supporters down with his heavy final defeat.

“I want to apologise to the crowd as I didn’t give them their money’s worth,” he said.

“I should have put up more of a fight than that, but Shaun was absolutely fantastic all day and outplayed me and the better player won.

“I without doubt feel guilty that there were only ten frames and I didn’t give the crowd their money’s worth - even when we do exhibitions, people pay good money to watch us play, and if I don’t make a century in an exhibition I apologise.

“I’m No.8 in the world and I like to produce good snooker and for people to enjoy watching me and to come away thinking ‘I want to go and watch him again.’

“Honestly I still backed myself at 7-1 down - I’m a fighter and I’ll always fight until the end, and I want to give people their money’s worth so I was always prepared to put fight on.

“But snooker’s a tough sport and you’ve got to take these defeats and learn from them, and hopefully come back stronger.”

Murphy raced into an early lead with classy efforts of 108 and 84, before a 76 in the sixth frame handed him a remarkable 6-0 lead.

Wilson hit back in the seventh but then it was all about Murphy again, who crafted a fine 134 and then those efforts of 102 and 73 to seal his ninth ranking event title.

But Wilson, who is nicknamed ‘The Warrior’ for a reason, believes there are plenty of positives to take from his week and is vying to come back stronger with the Betfred World Championship approaching.

“There are without doubt many positives to take from this week - this era is so difficult in snooker, and if you can’t be pleased with beating the likes of Ronnie and Ding and making maximums then there’s obviously something wrong,” he added.

“This final won’t find my career out - I’ve made that mistake in the past where I’ve lost some nasty matches and I’ve let it get to me.

“That’s not going to be the case this time, and I’m only going to find the positives from it.

“But I’m gutted not to win - I feel like I am a winner and I want to win titles so this is going to hurt for the next few days, but it’s back to the practice table now as we’ve got a big few tournaments coming up.”

Watch the Welsh Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds