World Championship: Selby through as O'Sullivan leads

Three days after Fergal O'Brien took a staggering two hours, three minutes and 41 seconds to win a deciding frame in the final round of qualifying, the Irish veteran was on the end of a 10-2 Selby onslaught.

O'Brien and David Gilbert set a world record for the longest frame in professional snooker in their high-stakes tussle on Wednesday, and it lasted longer even than the fastest marathon ever run.

Dubliner O'Brien had desperately craved a 10th Crucible appearance, having missed out in qualifying for the last six years, but it could hardly have gone any worse.

Selby had no appetite for going the full distance with 45-year-old O'Brien, who grinned with satisfaction when winning the ninth frame to finally get on the scoreboard.

O'Brien picked up a second frame too, but Selby soon crossed the winning line.

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John Parrott's 10-0 win over Eddie Charlton in 1992 remains the only time a player has failed to win a frame in Crucible snooker history.

Selby modestly said his performance "could have been better", and the 33-year-old added: "I was gutted not to come out 9-0 after the first session, knowing there'd only been one whitewash here and it'd be nice to get another one. No disrespect to Fergal who's a great guy, but at 8-1 I was devastated when he won that frame.

"I'll get on the practice table over the next few days and go and then go and watch Leicester (in the Champions League) on Tuesday night against Atletico Madrid - hopefully they can get through."

O'Brien put on a brave face.

"I still thoroughly enjoyed it," he said. "Obviously when it got to 6-0, 7-0 I wasn't so comfortable, dreading I was going to have the bagel after my name, but winning that first frame was quite enjoyable because the crowd were willing me not to be whitewashed.

"Probably after the efforts of getting here, there wasn't much left in the tank."

Selby will next meet either Ryan Day or Xiao Guodong next Saturday night.

Stephen Maguire overwhelmed his fellow Scot Anthony McGill, also 10-2, ending a winless run in Sheffield that dated back to his 2012 quarter-final victory over seven-time champion Stephen Hendry.

Hendry retired that night, and Maguire went on to lose to Ali Carter in the semi-finals, before enduring four consecutive first-round exits at the Crucible, three of them by a spirit-crushing 10-9 margin.

This time Maguire exacted revenge for his defeat to McGill at the same stage two years ago, and did so in devastating fashion.

In the seven-frame burst that took him from 2-2 to 9-2, Maguire limited McGill to just one point while plundering 547 himself.

Maguire said: "I didn't know what to do when I actually won the match. It was weird not going into the changing room and kicking the walls.

"I'm relieved. I'm over the moon."

McGill said: "It's happened to the best of them, players being drubbed. Steve Davis came here and got drubbed 10-1 one year so if it happened to him it can happen to anyone. You've got to take it on the chin."

Maguire will next meet either Judd Trump or Rory McLeod next Saturday afternoon.

In the afternoon session, Ronnie O'Sullivan was given a rocky ride by former taxi driver Gary Wilson as the Rocket began his bid for a sixth world title.

Wallsend cueman Wilson is making his Crucible debut after coming through the qualifying rounds in dazzling style, firing eight centuries over three matches including a 147 maximum break.

And while O'Sullivan looked en route for the second round when he surged 5-1 ahead, Wilson plotted his way back into the contest to trail only 5-4 overnight.

Until now, Wilson has been as well known for his flamboyant mohawk hairstyles as for his snooker, although he did reached the China Open final two years ago.

The hair is all shaved off in Sheffield, with Wilson meaning business, and he was excited to draw O'Sullivan rather than overawed.

Wilson turned to driving taxis when the early years of his chosen career proved a struggle, but better recent fortunes have seen him able to concentrate on snooker.

Early breaks of 57, 58, 63, a second 58 and 122 suggested O'Sullivan was playing well in building his four-frame cushion, but he was pegged back by a man on a mission.

O'Sullivan benefited from a huge slice of luck in the sixth frame, when 39 behind with only 35 points left on the table. Wilson flicked the knuckle of the middle pocket from a safety shot and the white deflected tight along the cushion and into the yellow pocket. O'Sullivan cleared up to level the scores and sank the re-spotted black to open a 5-1 lead.

But what could have been a shattering blow instead appeared to galvanise Wilson, who replied with 64 in taking the next frame and then 63 to cut O'Sullivan's lead further.

A 63 from O'Sullivan put the 41-year-old seemingly in charge of the next, but he missed a red he would have expected to sink and back came Wilson, potting a tricky black to snatch the frame and fuel his confidence before the best-of-19-frame contest concludes on Sunday afternoon.

O'Sullivan had earlier directed a grumble at the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.

The five-time world champion said he was still waiting to receive his trophy for winning the Masters in January, aiming a series of tweets, the first of which was addressed to WPBSA chairman Jason Ferguson.

He wrote: "Where's my trophy you promised me for winning the masters? You promised me I'd get one. It's been 4 months now."

Prompted by another Twitter user, O'Sullivan added: "It's defo not a wind up.. they promised me I'd get a trophy and nothing yet. There always seems to be a good excuse on why it's not come yet."

Another Crucible newcomer, Leeds cueman David Grace, had a similar result to Wilson by coming back from being almost cut adrift to salvage the session against Kyren Wilson.

In Grace's case, he was 5-2 behind and grappled his way back to 5-4 behind.

Saturday's Crucible Scores

Mark Selby (1) 10-2 Fergal O'Brien
Frame Scores: 75-20, 91-2 (50), 82-14, 70-33 (63), 77-0 (77), 79-41, 83-0 (56), 95-5, 19-66, 92-4 (92), 57-73, 54-50  

Anthony McGill (15) 2-10 Stephen Maguire
Frame Scores: 12-116 (66, 50), 64-6 (58), 47- 61, 81-28 (55), 0-97 (97), 0-72 (60), 0-88 (50), 0-78, 0-79 (59) , 1-60, 0-73 (57), 52-77 (58) 

Ronnie O'Sullivan (12) leads Gary Wilson 5-3
Frame Scores:  74-41 (57), 64-0 (58), 125-0 (58, 63), 0-91 (54), 122-0 (122) 65-58 *respotted black, 44-70 (64), 0-99 (63) 

Kyren Wilson (14) leads David Grace 5-3
Frame Scores: 62-51, 90-18 (58), 56-70, 76-0 (72), 0-75 (75), 49-41, 71-24, 0-70 (56) 

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