Shock as Bingham is humbled by Lisowski

STUART Bingham was the latest first-round casualty at the Betfred World Snooker Championship as the 2015 winner was eliminated by Jack Lisowski.

Bingham or defending champion Mark Selby had emerged victorious in Sheffield in each of the previous four years but neither man has been able to make it past the first hurdle this time.

Lisowski had held a 5-4 lead heading into the evening session, which was disrupted when one of the lights went out in the 10th frame, and he secured a 10-7 victory. It was his first at the Crucible.

“The goal was just to settle instead of having too much pressure on myself,” Lisowski said.

“I thought I j ust want to feel comfortable out there. To make a century in the first frame of the day, that really relaxed me.

“It was amazing just to be able to embrace it and not feel as intimidated as I did in 2013 when it was all just too much for me.”

Earlier in the day, Ding Junhui underlined his ambitions by closing out victory over Xiao Guodong in little more than an hour in the first round.

The world No 3 held a 6-3 overnight lead and reeled off four frames in a row to clinch a 10-3 win, setting up a clash against either Anthony McGill or Ryan Day next.

It was an encouraging opening display from Ding, whose bid to become the first Chinese player to go all the way in this competition saw him bounce back from an early 2-0 deficit, notching one century and seven 50-plus breaks along the way.

He said: “I played well in the end. I just went for my shots and made some breaks. I didn’t play a lot of safety, I just went for the shots.

“Xiao is always looking to beat me. and he played well at the start.”

Stuart Bingham saw his chances ended by a ‘relaxed’ Jack Lisowski.

Jack Lisowski on his way to his first victory at the Crucible.