Brecel Storms Ahead Against Fu

Luca Brecel is just three frames away from the last 16 of the Betfred World Championship as he carved out a 7-2 lead over Marco Fu in their opening session on Sunday night.

Brecel’s only previous appearance at the Crucible came in 2012 when – aged 17 – he became the youngest player to compete at the famous Sheffield venue. On that occasion he lost 10-5 to Stephen Maguire but the Belgian Bullet now looks on course to reach the second round for the first time.

World number 30 Brecel fired in breaks of 55, 109 and 94 as he surged 5-0 ahead of eighth seed Fu. Hong Kong’s Fu pulled one back but Brecel responded with runs of 62 and 76 to go 7-1 up. Fu took the last of a high quality session with a 105 but still needs eight of the last ten frames when they resume at 7pm on Monday.

Meanwhile, Mark Allen came from 4-2 down to take a 5-4 lead over Jimmy Robertson.

Sussex cueman Robertson – who lost in the first round on his two previous Crucible appearances – knocked in breaks of 60 and 86 to go 2-0 up and led 55-0 in the next only for 11th seed Allen to make a 63 clearance. Robertson won frame four with a 61 then Northern Irishman Allen hit back with a 105 to trail 3-2.

A break of 78 gave Robertson frame six, but Allen took a scrappy seventh then cleared from yellow to pink in the next to level at 4-4. And Allen finished the evening’s play in style with an even 100 to give himself a narrow overnight lead. They return  at 7pm on Monday.