Kyren Wilson crushes Dominic Dale to reach second round at Crucible

Kyren Wilson missed out on another Crucible maximum but completed a comprehensive win over Dominic Dale at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

Wilson potted 11 reds and blacks in the final frame but ran short on a mid-range red as he aimed to repeat the 147 he had fashioned against Ryan Day at the same stage last year.

Nevertheless, the 32-year-old won the two frames required on Wednesday morning to wrap up a 10-1 win, the most comprehensive victory at the Crucible since Mark Selby’s win over Kurt Maflin by the same score in 2021.

But the 2020 runner-up, who has reached the quarter-finals or better on six of his previous nine visits to the Crucible, believes he is one of a few players who has proved they are capable of enduring the marathon 17-day event.

“A big part of my game is heavy scoring and there are definitely players that are suited to this event and I would like to believe I’m one of those,” said Wilson.

“If I play like that it will take some performance in any round for any player to stop me.”

Wilson, who moves on to a second-round meeting with Mark Selby’s conqueror Joe O’Connor, compiled half-centuries or better in all but one of his winning frames, including a break of 123 in the fifth frame.

Jack Lisowski held his nerve to sink seventh seed Ding Junhui in a decider and set up a last-16 meeting with former champion Stuart Bingham.

Lisowski, who led 8-6 and 9-7, looked likely to rue a simple missed blue in the 17th frame which gave Ding the chance to pull his way back and then rattle in a 131 clearance to force the single frame shoot-out.

But the 32-year-old Lisowski, who came through qualifying after dropping out of the world’s top 16, made what proved to be a match-winning break of 38 on the back of a brilliant opening red.

Ding’s defeat made him the seventh seed to fall in the first round of this year’s World Championship, with four of the 16 matches still to finish.