John Higgins and Barry Hawkins will both take 5-3 leads into the second sessions of their respective Betfred World Championship semi-finals
Four-time champion Higgins raced into a 3-0 lead and then endured a mini Wilson fightback before clinching the final frame of the day, while Hawkins has a two-frame cushion over Mark Williams.
Higgins forged ahead with breaks of 57, 65 and 77 before Wilson - in his first semi-final at the Crucible - finally got on the board before the mid-session interval.
The Scot restored his advantage after the resumption with a frame-winning clearance of 69, but the 26-year-old found his form to claim the next two, including a brilliant break of 140 in the seventh.
But Wilson missed an inviting red in the final frame of the day and Higgins took advantage, clearing to the pink, as he aims to reach a seventh final in Sheffield
Hawkins, runner-up in 2013, started with a brilliant break of 129 and followed it up with 74 in his opening session against Williams.
Williams, aided by a clever three-ball plant, took the third with 88 but Hawkins won the next to go into the mid-session interval with a three-frame lead.
The big breaks briefly went missing, with the pair trading scrappy frames.
Williams then missed a tricky shot - using one rest balanced on another - at the start of the seventh, which gave Hawkins the opportunity to make a frame-winning 90.
But the two-time world champion responded with a 110 to close the gap back to two.
