Sheffield, April 22 World number one Judd Trump won five of the last six frames to surge to a comfortable 10-5 win over Gary Wilson at the World Snooker Championship.
The 31-time ranking event winner is aiming to capture snooker's biggest prize for just the second time in his career, having beaten John Higgins in the 2019 title match.
Trump held a 5-4 advantage coming into this evening's session, having rallied from 4-1 down this morning. Wilson crafted contributions of 58 and 33 in the opener to regain parity, but Trump responded by taking two on the bounce to open up a 7-5 cushion. He continued his momentum in the next, making 71 to lead 8-5 at the mid-session.
When play resumed Trump extended his advantage further and then made a 69 break in the 15th to get over the line and secure victory. The Ace in the Pack progresses to the second round for the 14th time in his career. A meeting with either Hossein Vafaei or Si Jiahui awaits him, World Snooker Tour reports.
"Gary is a great player, he's won three ranking events and was always going to be tricky. I just tried to keep my composure. I knew if I played my best I'd have a great chance of winning. He started off well and all the long pots were going in there. I just had to try and stick in there in the first session," said Trump.
Elsewhere, Shaun Murphy escaped a huge Crucible shock as he made a marvellous clearance in the deciding frame to beat Fan Zhengyi 10-9 in the first round.
Trailing by 36 points at 9-9 with four reds left - and two of them close to the top cushion - Murphy was in danger of becoming the first seeded player to exit this year's tournament, at the hands of world number 63 Fan.
But he fashioned a tremendous break of 50 then celebrated with multiple fist pumps as an enthralled crowd applauded at the end of the most dramatic contest of the Championship so far.
World number eight Murphy is into the last 16 for the 16th time and will meet Xiao Guodong on Thursday and Friday. With Judd Trump also into the second round, all 11 completed matches so far have gone in favour of the seeded player.
Champion in 2005, Murphy is looking to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021 when he was runner-up to Mark Selby.
Earlier, Ronnie O'Sullivan built a commanding 7-2 advantage over He Guoqiang, after the first session of their opening round tie. The 'Rocket' is embarking on his 34th Crucible campaign and is gunning for history.
O'Sullivan knows that an eighth World Championship victory this year would move him clear of Stephen Hendry's seven Crucible crowns.
Breaks of 72, 97 and 113 helped O'Sullivan to a flying start and the first five frames this afternoon. He dug deep and clawed back the next two frames, including a break of 77, to trail 5-2.
O'Sullivan responded by taking the last two of the sessions, with contributions of 52 and 86 to end 7-2 ahead. The Englishman will require three more frames for victory when the game resumes on Wednesday.
--IANS
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