Lisowski, Bingham, Maguire and Walden secure spots at Crucible

Jack Lisowski completed a 10-3 win over two-time World Championship finalist Matthew Stevens to book his trip to the final stage of this year’s Crucible event.

World No. 17 Lisowski produced the level of form that saw him reach the last eight two years ago as breaks of 137, 76, 80, 59, 73, 100 and 77 saw him reel off the final seven frames from 3-3 to book his place in Thursday morning’s draw alongside the top 16 seeds.

Former Masters and UK winner Stevens had opened the match with 135 and levelled with a 97 in the sixth frame, but could not live with the scoring power of his opponent, who carried on the form that saw him complete a 10-4 win over Liu Hongyu in the penultimate qualifying round.

“This is the best I have played all season, I have practised really hard for it and it’s a relief to get through,” Lisowski told reporters. “It’s a ‘no win’ really because I was expected to get through and I could only lose. I have been to the Crucible for six years in a row and I want to do well this time.

“I feel sharper than I have done all season. I know Ding [Junhui] got to the [2016] final having come through the qualifiers. My plan was to turn a negative into a positive.

“I have two matches under my belt now. I nicked an important frame at the end of the first session today to go 6-3 instead of 5-4. When I got chances I was scoring and so was Matthew, it was a really good game.”

2015 world champion Stuart Bingham is also through to the scene of his greatest triumph after battling past Louis Heathcote with a taut 10-8 win.

Bingham had trailed 8-7 in a see-saw encounter, but produced a solid finale with knocks of 60, 135 and 71 booking his return trip to the Crucible in some style.

Elsewhere, former UK champion Stephen Maguire enjoyed a 10-6 victory over Yuan Sijun, while evergreen 52-year-old Welshman Dominic Dale ran out a 10-8 winner against He Guoqiang to become the oldest player to qualify since six-time world champion Steve Davis managed the feat at the same age in 2010.

Maguire found some vintage form with three centuries as Dale weighed in with six breaks over 60 in his victory.

Ricky Walden edged out Mark Davis 10-9 having trailed 5-2 and 9-8 despite Hastings hopeful Davis producing two century breaks.

Meanwhile, Jak Jones replicated the brilliance that saw him reach the quarter-finals on his debut campaign last season with a 10-4 success against Zhou Yuelong that saw the Welshman produce a century, six breaks over 70 and two over 50.

World Championship latest results

Ricky Walden 10-9 Mark Davis Robbie Williams 10-9 Chris Wakelin Dominic Dale 10-8 He Guoqiang Lyu Haotian 10-7 Jenson KendrickStuart Bingham 10-8 Louis Heathcote Jak Jones 10-4 Zhou Yuelong Stephen Maguire 10-6 Yuan Sijun Jack Lisowski 10-3 Matthew Stevens Jack Lisowski secured a 6-3 lead against Matthew Stevens in the second qualifying round of the World Championship.

Stevens opened up with a first-frame century clearance of 135, which was followed up with a century clearance from Lisowski to level things.

The third frame was far more hard-fought as it went down to a 51-49 decider on the final black, with an excellent cut from Lisowski to go 2-1 ahead.

In the final frame before the mid-session interval, Stevens resorted to the extension when 31-0 up for a red into the bottom right pocket, and his scoring ended on 39 when the red appeared to roll off something on, or under, the surface of the baize.

Stevens returned back and built a 65-36 lead, but had the ball tucked up behind the brown as he looked for the yellow down the bottom of the table. He missed on his first attempt, and gave Lisowski a chance to double his lead if he could make a tricky, long pot.

The Englishman sunk the ball and he measured the shot expertly to land on the green. He moved onto the blue, needing to reach the pink, right at the top of the table. While he manoeuvred the ball adroitly he gave himself a tight angle on the black when he was five points behind.

Lisowski missed to give Stevens a black, needing to avoid the in-off with the white, and he tied up the frame to go in level after four frames.

Lisowski went back in front with a fluid break in the opener after they came back to the table, but Stevens showed his form was intact to make it 3-3 with a 97.

Stevens fell behind once more as his opponent switched between left and right hands after blasting into the pack, taking the reds off the cushions to reach a break of 80 to regain the advantage.

A coughing fit from Stevens led to him leaving the table for a few moments before coming back to try and reel in a 47-0 deficit. A stroke of bad luck let Lisowski back in, and he faced a tough red to go 60-6 up, but he missed and left Stevens with a long red or snookers as his options, but he could not prevent another frame loss.

Noppon makes 20th 147 in World Championship history

The Welshman looked to be a little under the weather after his coughing problems but he gave himself a shot at ending the session just a frame behind when he set himself up for a blue with an 11-0 lead, and he laboured to make that 30-0 before setting Lisowski up with a tricky shot selection from well up the table.

The previously high standards of the match so far fell away after a string of poor shots from both players was put out of its misery when another slack miss from Stevens allow a misfiring Lisowski to bring the session to a close with a 6-3 lead ahead of the evening resumption.

Elsewhere in the qualifiers, Dominic Dale holds a 5-4 lead over He Guoqiang, Louis Heathcote is 5-4 up against Stuart Bingham, and Lyu Hoatian trails Jenson Kendrick 5-4.

There are four matches yet to finish their first session: Ricky Walden v Mark Davis, Zhou Yuelong v Jak Jones, and Stephen Maguire against Yuan Sijun.

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