Chris Wakelin defeated Liam Pullen at the World Snooker Championship. Mark Selby also secured a victory. Four debutants made their first appearances at the Crucible, and three of them are now out.
Wakelin Seals Victory Over Pullen
Chris Wakelin sealed victory against Pullen in style. He pulled out a cross double. Wakelin then polished off a few more balls to give himself an unassailable advantage and a very good first-round victory. He’s just had too much nous for the 20-year-old debutant, Liam Pullen, who is now out of the competition after a 10-6 loss to Chris Wakelin.
Selby Dominates Jones
Mark Selby looks determined to not let Jak Jones off the hook. He has a laser-focused look about him as he gets in amongst the balls and takes another frame with a break of 78, his highest of the match so far. It looks like we’ll have time for a ninth frame.
A courageous clearance by Jak Jones in frame seven wasn’t enough, as so far he’s been the victim of a tactical masterclass by Selby. Selby is not potting overly well if truth be told. Jak Jones got a frame on the board to a huge cheer from the crowd. That looked like another frame that was going to go Mark Selby’s way but the Welshman constructs a break of 34 to finally get over the line in own.
Mark Selby rattles off another frame by potting a long yellow and putting the Welshman, who needs snookers, in one himself. Jones misses another opportunity to close in on Selby. Jak Jones is well and truly having one. He goes in off while playing safe on the yellow and now finds himself snookered behind the black while 25 points down. The Welshman brilliantly gets out of that but Selby is still in charge of this tactical exchange.
Seeds Progress at the Crucible
That’s 12 out of 12 seeds through. That’s every single seed through so far. The only debutant left is China’s He Guoqiang but it will be the story of the tournament if he can recover from 7-2 down against Ronnie O’Sullivan. We just need O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Si Jiahui and Neil Robertson to complete the set and make a bit of Crucible history of all 16 seeds progressing.
- Antoni Kowalski, the 22-year-old who was the first from Poland to qualify for the finals, lost 10-4 to Mark Williams.
- English teenager Stan Moody, 19, lost 10-7 to Kyren Wilson.
- Liam Pullen is out after that 10-6 loss to Chris Wakelin.
Not long now until the action gets back under way.