World Snooker Championship 2018: Judd Trump beats debutant Chris Wakelin

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Snooker World Championship: Judd Trump seals hard-fought win over Chris Wakelin

2018 World Championship

Venue: Crucible Theatre, Sheffield Dates: 21 April - 7 May

Coverage: Watch live across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Red Button, Connected TV, the BBC Sport website and mobile app.

Number four seed Judd Trump survived an almighty scare against World Championship debutant Chris Wakelin to earn a 10-9 final-frame win and complete the last-16 line-up.

World number 55 Wakelin, 26, fought back from 8-4 down to level before an out-of-sorts Trump regained his composure to win a 33-minute frame and go 9-8 ahead.

Wakelin levelled on the black, but his luck deserted him in the decider and Trump edged through despite missing several simple pots.

Trump, 28, missed two regulation blues and an even easier red in the decider.

The late-night drama and completely unconvincing victory for one of the tournament favourites seemed highly unlikely as Bristolian Trump stretched his 6-3 overnight lead to 8-4 by scoring his fifth and sixth half centuries of the match.

But former supermarket delivery driver Wakelin, whose break of 141 in the first session was the highest of his career, continued to attack.

Successive half-centuries reduced the deficit to 8-6 and the Warwickshire potter also took the next two with Trump crumbling under the pressure.

Both men had several chances to win frames 18 and 19, but had to settle for a frame apiece, with Trump eventually progressing after a 42-minute decider.

A mightily relieved Trump, who plays Ricky Walden in round two, said: "I will have to play a lot better than that. I was a bit fortunate to get through but I won't dwell on it."

Wakelin added: "I'm gutted but on reflection it's been amazing. What a place to play. It's been a brilliant experience."

McGill through in a thriller

Earlier, in a thrilling conclusion to an afternoon session high on tension but low on quality, world number 14 Anthony McGill won five frames in a row to complete a remarkable comeback and beat Ryan Day 10-8.

The 27-year-old Scot trailed 6-3 overnight after being outplayed by a confident Day, who scored breaks of 141 and a tournament high of 145.

Welshman Day, 38, quickly extended the advantage to 7-3, and also led 8-5.

But Day them missed countless simple chances and an increasingly assured McGill seemed buoyed by his opponent's struggles to set up a second-round tie with China's Ding Junhui.

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Watch dramatic finish as McGill seals 'unbelievable' comeback against Day

"I can't believe I won," McGill, a Crucible quarter-finalist in 2015, told BBC Sport. "I wasn't anywhere near the required level.

"It shows what you can do if you dig in and never give up. I didn't play well and maybe that dragged him down a bit.

"I can definitely take confidence from the fact that I played my best snooker towards the end of the match when my back was against the wall."

McGill's win meant he avoided becoming the seventh seed to lose in the 16 first-round matches.

Analysis

John Parrott, 1991 world champion

It was a fabulous show of temperament by Anthony McGill and sometimes that's what is all about. It's not just potting balls and flair and skill.

You stick in there, try as hard as you can and just hang around and see what happens. What happened today was that his opponent got worse and he got slightly better and that was good enough.

Five-star Allen edges ahead of Perry

Although first-round matches still had to be completed, the second-round action began on Thursday afternoon, with Masters champion Mark Allen taking a 5-3 lead over world number 22 Joe Perry - the man who knocked out reigning champion Mark Selby in the first round.

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Mark Allen's flukey treble wins frame

Northern Ireland's Allen, 32, lost the opener but was in devastating form from then on, scoring breaks of 99, 94 and 67 to lead 3-1.

Perry, 43, responded with his top break of 73, but the next two frames were shared and world number 16 Allen won the final frame with a fluked pink to maintain his two-frame advantage.

The 2013 runner-up, Barry Hawkins, raced into a 4-0 lead against China's Lyu Haotian in their best-of-25 second-round meeting.

World number six Hawkins, 38, looked smooth and composed - a far cry from his scratchy first-round win over Stuart Carrington - as three 50s and a stunning 129 clearance put him in total control.

But Lyu, 20, got on the board with a break of 73 and, after another Hawkins ton, the World Championship first-timer also won the last two frames to reduce the gap to 5-3 going into Friday's second session.

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