Defending champion Luca Brecel is out of the World Snooker Championship, losing 10-9 to Dave Gilbert at the Crucible in the opening round.
The Belgian Bullet started the match well but struggled later on as Dave Gilbert strengthened in the second session. The defending champ had health issues, visibly unwell with a throat infection.
The Crucible curse strikes again, with the defending champion failing to defend his title for the first time since the World Championship came to Sheffield in 1977.
The 29-year-old seemed comfortable at the Crucible as he did last year on his way to the title, making 91 and 134 in the opening two frames.
Gilbert performed well in qualifying and wasn’t intimidated, winning the next two frames with breaks of 70 and 77 before the first interval.
The first session was of high quality, with Brecel making 73 and 104 before Gilbert knocked in a 115. Brecel won the ninth to end the session 6-3 ahead.
After the break, things seemed to be going well for the world champ, taking a 9-6 lead, but he struggled as the finish line approached.
Gilbert made breaks of 65, 81 and 53 to take the match to a decider against the favourite, who was clearly not at his best physically.
Despite the momentum built by Gilbert, it was never likely to be entirely straightforward in the decider, despite the Englishman taking a 69-point lead with a break of 65.
Gilbert missed his chance to win the match and there was a tactical battle to come, but he did ultimately defeat the defending champ to set up a second round clash with either Rob Milkins or Pang Junxu.
At the end of the match, Brecel only needed one snooker but conceded the match by shaking hands with Gilbert.
'I hadn’t lost all hope, but at 8-5 it couldn’t be any worse for me,’ said Gilbert. ‘I had a bit of hope that Luca was struggling. He should have won at 9-6. I was struggling for rhythm all day. But when I found my rhythm I felt like I could pot anything.’
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