- Written by Michael Emmons
- BBC Sport at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield
venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield date: April 20th – May 6th |
coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport mobile app. Live text coverage of selected matches. Stay up to date with Radio 5 Live. |
Reigning world champion Luca Brecel suffered a shocking decision frame loss to David Gilbert on a thrilling opening day of the 2024 event at the Crucible.
The Belgian led 6-3 at the end of the first session, but squandered his chances for victory in the 16th and 18th frames.
Gilbert, ranked 31st in the world, then posted an impressive match-winning break of 65 to set up a match with Robert Milkins or China's Pan Junxu.
2nd place in the world judd trump Leading 6-3 against Iran Hossein Vafai.
Ali Carter maintain a 5-4 lead stephen maguire jack jones won 5-2 Jang Anda and tom ford has a 6-3 advantage against Ricky Walden.
The curse of the Crucible strikes again
Bressel had never won a world championship match before winning his first world title in 2023 with an incredible run that included wins over former world champions Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby. There wasn't.
The first-time Crucible winner retained his title the following year, with the 29-year-old aiming to break the so-called 'Crucible Curse'.
Century breaks of 134 and 104 extended his lead to 5-2, and despite a 115 effort from Briton Gilbert in frame eight, Bressel looked to be in full control at the end of a quality first session. Ta.
However, the second session saw mistakes from both players, which led to some thrilling frames with two blackball finishes, but one for each player within the first three frames. I won.
Bressel had a stroke of luck when he joined the Reds in the 15th, scoring a career-best 85 points in the second session and leading 9-6, one point away from victory.
The Belgian will wonder why he lost this match.
He missed the rest of the red in the 16th frame when he was leading 55-1 and couldn't get the green out of position two frames later when he was leading 51-6.
There was still time for more drama as Gilbert missed the match ball in the final frame holding a 69-0 advantage, but Bressel was in last place as the 2019 semifinalists advanced and last year's champion was eliminated. I couldn't make the most of my chances.
Trump has an advantage in Buffai battle
Trump, who won the 2019 title, was relentless in blaming the world No. 19 Buffai for his mistakes.
The two faced off again in 2022, with Trump winning 10-4, with the Briton once again holding the advantage until the match is decided in Sunday afternoon's session.
Mr. Buffay led 56-4, 67-0, and 44-8 in the second, third, and fifth frames, respectively, but Mr. Trump only won each frame, including the pink and black borders. Ta.
A nice clearance of 138 gave Buffai the sixth frame and Trump took the next two frames, but Buffai ended the session on a high with a break of 74.
Carter, Jones, and Ford are all up front.
The match between England's Carter, who lost as a Crucible finalist in 2008 and 2012, and Scotland's Maguire, a two-time semi-finalist, was expected to be a close battle, and that proved to be the case as the first session ended. Carter led 5-4 at the time.
Maguire won three of the first five frames, scoring two centuries at 114 and 134, but Carter won the sixth frame on black as Maguire's frustration grew.
He took a punch at the table by missing the pot in the eighth frame, but was determined to win the final frame and stay close heading into Sunday's final session.
In other matches, Wales' Jack Jones leads 5-2 over China's Zhang, but only filled seven of the nine slots scheduled for the opening session..
Jones reached the quarterfinals last year, defeating two-time runner-up Ali Carter and former champion Neil Robertson, and took control against the No. 11 seed with breaks of 71, 68, 71 and 75.
It will resume on Sunday at 10:00 BST.
In England's draw between 10th seed Ford and world No. 32 Walden, Ford won six of the first eight frames, but a break of 142 in the final frame of the session meant Walden had three points until the end of Sunday. This meant that he was within the frame.
The first round is all 19 frames first, so 1st to 10th place wins.
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