World Snooker Championship: Stuart Bingham holds healthy lead over Gary Wilson, Shaun Murphy progresses – Eurosport

Stuart Bingham took a 6-3 lead over Gary Wilson in a gripping morning session in the first round of the World Championship.

It was a session marred by a series of errors from Wilson, but the way in which he dramatically clinched the ninth frame before the interval will give the Englishman hope of turning the tide in his favour.

Bingham was able to claim the opener after Wilson’s black to the bottom corner rattled the jaws of the pocket and allowed him to take the first frame with an impressive clearance of 98.

The former world champion doubled his advantage in a pulsating end to a second frame which managed to somehow almost get away from him. After failing to pot a brown to the green pocket, Bingham levelled the scores and forced a dramatic play-off on the black.

Bingham managed to land the black with a superb shot, much to the bemusement of Wilson in an intriguing start to the match.

More chances came and went for Wilson in frame three, and he was forced to eventually concede following some fine potting by Bingham.

It looked like Wilson had finally gathered some frame-winning momentum, but an unwanted cannon ended his break on 38 and a cagey frame ensued.

After falling into a trap on the red and then losing another six points with a foul and a miss, Bingham made a break of 53 to leave Wilson needing snookers.

They did not materialise, as the Tyneside Terror was forced to concede and go 4-0 down in a sobering start to the match.

Wilson finally got off the mark with a break of 36, which came to an end after a missed red to the top pocket.

The response from Bingham was emphatic, as he rattled in a superb 117 to clear up to the pink for his 580th career century and take a 5-1 lead.

In a moment that summed up Wilson’s struggles in the session, he missed a routine red to the bottom corner and comically offered his cue to a member of the crowd.

Bingham drew an unexpected foul after a chipped shot with the cue ball went awry, but Wilson could not make it pay with another missed red to the top pocket.

Although with Bingham missing a red too, Wilson was back in and landed a pressured pot himself to open up the pack nicely on his way to his highest break of the match up to this point at 42.

Wilson was struggling to gain any sort of momentum in a chastening first session, and after a safety error, he left the door open again for Bingham to extend his lead with another fine break of 76.

Wilson had to wait until the ninth frame to take his first half-century break of the match, but his error-strewn play came to the surface once again after missing a black to the bottom pocket to end his run at 60.

The prospect of securing a morale-boosting frame before the interval looked to have come and gone as Bingham motored to a clearance of 63, only to agonisingly miss the final black to allow Wilson to pot it and dramatically reduce the deficit at 6-3.

Meawhile, Shaun Murphy booked his place in the second round after a 10-5 victory over Lyu Haotian.

With the score at 6-3 heading into the this morning, the magician secured four of the next six frames to set up a clash with Stephen Maguire.

Lyu actually managed to score with the highest break of the match at 117 in the 14th frame, but it was not enough to prevent the Chinese player from exiting the tournament.