Woman restrained by referee during World Snooker Championship final after climbing over barriers

A protestor had to be held back by referee Rob Spencer during the third frame of the World Snooker Championship final between Shaun Murphy and Wu Yize.

Wu, playing in his first Crucible final, was leading 2-0 and ahead by 67 points to 31 when he was forced to pull out of a crucial shot.

That was because a woman from the crowd had managed to climb over the security barrier and into the main part of the arena, where both players and the referee were stationed.

"Who f***ing pays their TV licence anyway?" she was heard shouting, to audible groans from the crowd. "Who f***ing pays their TV licence? You hardly use it."

Referee Spencer quickly intervened to restrain the woman and prevent her from getting close to either player, with security quickly racing to the scene to escort her from the arena.

The drama quickly died down and Wu, who had stayed at the table while the protest was ongoing, continued with the frame.

"Sorry for that minor disturbance, it's all sorted," BBC commentator and 1991 world champion John Parrott said.

Wu watched on as the protestor was restrained (Image: Getty)

Wu managed to win the frame after a lengthy exchange with Murphy, who required a snooker to register his first frame on the board.

'The Magician', who fended off John Higgins 17-15 in the semi-final, settled into the final after that, winning the next four frames to move 4-3 ahead.

A total of 16 frames will be played across two sessions on Sunday, with the remaining 19 frames - if required - played over sessions of eight and 10 frames on Monday.

World Championship crowd incidents continue

The in-match protest is not the first crowd incident that has occurred during one of Murphy's matches at this year's World Championship.

As the 2005 champion was preparing to break off at 11-11 against Higgins, a fan screamed out 'Come on, Shaun' just as he was about to strike the cue ball.

Murphy stepped back away from the shot, with referee Tatiana Woollaston asking security to remove the fan from the Crucible.

Read more: World Snooker Championship semi-final halted by crowd incident before frame

"Whoever shouted out, just get them out of the Crucible," 1985 champion Dennis Taylor said on commentary. "We don't need that."

And during the final frame of Wu's semi-final against Mark Allen on Saturday night, a fan made their way to the front row before bizarrely shouting: "Never forget the Epstein files, unredact the Epstein files."

The match had only gone to a last-frame decider after Allen devastatingly missed the final black off its spot for a 17-15 win.

"I don't deserve to be in a world final if you're missing balls like that," he said in his post-match interview. "That was just pressure, to be honest.

"Normally I'm pretty good under pressure but just didn't handle it well today ... I had more than enough chances to win that.

"I think he [Wu] is going to be a world champion. I think even though I'm devastated to lose that match, I think the right person's in the final.

"The way he plays is great for the game ... I think if he doesn't win it this time, he's going to win many world titles the way he's playing."