Stuart Bingham managed to overcome a shaky start to defeat Gary Wilson.
Initially taking a commanding 4-0 lead, Bingham witnessed Wilson’s lighthearted gesture of offering his cue to an audience member after a missed shot. However, Wilson rallied, narrowing the gap to 6-5 before Bingham regained control.
Bingham erased memories of a critical miss as he powered through to a 10-5 victory in the World Championship first round. Despite being one pot away from a 7-2 lead, Bingham’s unexpected error allowed Wilson to close in at 6-5 with impressive breaks.
However, Bingham’s focus returned, aided by Wilson’s own inconsistencies, securing breaks of 66 and 55 to seal victory.
In the second round, Bingham will face either Ding Junhui or Jack Lisowski.
Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy secured his spot in the next round with a 10-5 win over Lyu Haotian.
Heading into the morning with a score of 6-3, Murphy secured four of the next six frames to set up a clash with Stephen Maguire. Despite Lyu managing to score with the highest break of the match at 117 in the 14th frame, it was not enough to prevent the Chinese player from exiting the tournament.
