Wilson’s in epic battle at Crucible
WALLSEND potter Gary Wilson was involved in a titanic first-round struggle with namesake Kyren Wilson at the World Snooker Championships last night.
A late-night finish looked on he cards in Sheffield as the 35-year-old North Tynesider trailed the world No 6 7-6 - the first to 10 frames progressing.
Kyren Wilson - beaten by Robbie O’Sullivan in last year’s final - had fought back to trail 5-4 following yesterday’s morning session at the Crucible..
On the resumption the 29-year-old rallied to lead 7-5 before his namesake took the last frame before the evening’s mid-session interval to trail by just one.
After losing the opening frame of the day, former semi-finalist Gary Wilson produced two half-century clearances before further breaks of 94 and 84 seemingly put him in command of the first-round match.
The world number six, though, found some composure to finally get another frame on the board with a break of 82.
After his opponent missed a pink into middle, Kyren Wilson reduced the defect further following a 115 clearance - which was backed up by a superb break of 139.
On table one, China’s Ding Junhui took a slender 5-4 overnight lead against former champion Stuart Bingham.
The 44-year-old from Essex, who won the title in 2015, had to come through qualifying after dropping out of the top 16.
Bingham showed his intent with a superb 131 break in the opening frame and another of 129 helped him move 3-1 ahead at the mid-session interval.
However, Ding, the world number nine and runner-up at the Crucible to Mark Selby in 2016, returned with intent as clearances of 105 and 86 levelled the match, which will be concluded today.
Another half-century break saw Bingham edge in front at 4-3, only for Ding to respond again - and then edge the ninth frame 54-45 on a fluked final black along the top cushion.
Fourteenth seed Jack Lisowski fought back from 3-1 down to fashion a 5-4 overnight advantage over former finalist Ali Carter.
Consecutive breaks of 121 and 75 hauled Lisowski level and he went on to establish a two-frame lead of his own before Carter rallied to take the ninth frame ahead of today’s conclusion.
John Higgins won five frames in a row to transform a 7-4 deficit into a 9-7 lead over China’s Tian Pengfei.
Scosman Higgins moved one frame from victory with a break of 127 but after running out of time the pair had to wait to finish their match late last night.