Jack Lisowski forges ahead against Ding Junhui in tight Crucible clash

Jack Lisowski forged a 5-4 lead in his World Snooker Championship opener against Ding Junhui as the clash lived up to its billing as the tie of the round.

Lisowski, who reached the quarter-finals at the Crucible in 2022, had to qualify for this year’s tournament after dropping out of the top 16, beating Matthew Stevens 10-3 last week to book his ticket.

But after falling behind early on against Ding, Lisowski looked back to his best as he edged a highly entertaining first session.

Lisowski, 32, looked in danger of being blown away by Ding on Tuesday morning as the 2016 finalist flew out of the blocks, compiling a clearance worth 127 to win the opening frame.

The Chinese star then enjoyed a huge slice of luck in the second as he fluked a red into a middle pocket early on, but a missed black at 23-0 opened the door for Lisowski to pot his first ball of the day.

Lisowski was only able to score a solitary point at that visit before letting Ding back in, though, and he finished the frame with a break of 60 to make it 2-0.

The Englishman hit back in the next, rattling off a break of 72 to reduce Ding’s lead to one.

And Lisowski went into the mid-session interval tied at 2-2 courtesy of a break of 91 in the fourth frame.

An attritional sixth frame, which lasted more than half an hour as a tactical battle broke out, went Lisowski’s way as he drew level.

But Ding made quick work of the next frame, winning it with a break of 90 to go 4-3 up before Lisowski took the eighth.

And Lisowski won the final frame of the session to lead for the first time in the match.

Former finalist Kyren Wilson has one foot in the second round after storming into an 8-1 lead against Welshman Dominic Dale, who is making his Crucible comeback after a 10-year absence.

But Wilson made Dale pay for missing the pink as he roared back with a break of 75 to take a 3-0 lead.

Dale was not to be denied in the fourth frame, though, producing a stunning break of 120 to get on the scoreboard.

Wilson regained command immediately after the interval with a phenomenal break of 123 before a 98 in the next frame moved him 5-1 in front.

Englishman Wilson then showed exceptional nerve to come from behind to win the next frame 74-70 to extend his lead to five.

Wilson’s dominance continued as he won the next two frames with breaks of 77 and 73 to extend his massive lead.