World Snooker Championship: Stuart Bingham through after Graeme Dott scare, while David Gilbert advances

By Sporting Life

Snooker

Tue April 23, 2019 · 6y ago

A review of the rest of the action on day four of the Betfred World Championship where Stuart Bingham edged through and Judd Trump is in trouble after the first session against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Bingham holds off Dott after comeback scare

Stuart Bingham survived a superb comeback from fellow former Crucible champion Graeme Dott to win 10-9.

Bingham took control of the first session by taking an 8-1 lead. He didn't have to be at his best to take a 2-1 advantage but really warmed to his task thereafter and rattled off breaks of 90, 56, 80, 107, 56 and 96 to win six frames on the bounce and put himself within touching distance of the second round.

Bingham, the 2015 champion, was then forced into a tense decider in the second session after 2006 winner Dott rallied.

On the other table, China's Zhou Yuelong took a 7-2 lead against Mark Allen after their first session.

Gilbert edges past Perry

David Gilbert

David Gilbert, the 16th seed, edged past Joe Perry with a 10-7 victory to reach the second round of the Betfred World Championship.

Having led 4-0 and 6-2, Gilbert's progress stalled as his battle-hardened opponent began to make life difficult, but Perry's challenge was finally ended after a lengthy 16th frame.

Gilbert, playing in his fifth World Championship, advances to take on defending champion Mark Williams in the second round.

The match was won in the first session, in truth, as Perry started in sluggish fashion and Gilbert chipped away with breaks of 51 and 75 enough for a 4-0 lead.

After the following four frames were shared, Perry needed to take the final frame of the stanza to keep his hopes alive and that he did, a break of 68 enough to get within three.

Gilbert edged the first frame back after the resumption on Tuesday afternoon before a sumptuous 136 from Perry got him back in touch at 7-4, but the story of the match was Gilbert taking the tight frames and that he did to restore a four-frame cushion.

Perry rallied to take the next three and get as close as he had been since the very start of the match, but a tough 52 from Gilbert got him within one and when Perry couldn't force a snooker, a lengthy battle finally ended.

Trump in early trouble

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Judd Trump has a real battle on his hands to keep his World Championship dreams alive after Thepchaiya Un-Nooh dominated the opening session of their first-round match to lead 6-3.

Un-Nooh raced into a 3-1 lead with breaks of 69 and 60 before Trump hit back with a break of 141, the highest of the tournament so far, to reduce his deficit at the mid-session interval.

However, Un-Nooh extended his lead to 4-1 upon the resumption and although Trump rallied to win frame seven, more unforced errors from the Masters champion allowed his free-flowing opponent to win frame eight thanks to a break of 54.

A potentially pivotal frame nine then went the way of Un-Nooh to ensure he leads 6-3 heading into Wednesday morning's concluding session.