Defending champion Luca Brecel got his Crucible campaign off to a fine start, surging to a 6-3 lead over David Gilbert on the opening morning of the 2024 Cazoo World Championship.
This time last year Brecel hadn’t even won a match at the Theatre of Dreams, before beating Ricky Walden in the opening round. The Belgian went on to beat Mark Selby 18-15 in an epic final to become World Champion for the first time.
Brecel is bidding to break the Crucible Curse this year. No first time winner of the event has ever successfully defended their title the following year.
The Bullet started off this morning at breakneck speed, firing in breaks of 91 and 134 to storm to an early 2-0 advantage. However, Tamworth qualifier Gilbert responded brilliantly with runs of 70 and 77 to level up at 2-2 as they went in for the mid-session.
When play resumed, contributions of 73 and 104 helped Brecel on his way to three on the bounce and a 5-2 lead. Gilbert responded with 115 to take the eighth, but it was Brecel who took a 37-minute last frame of the session to end 6-3 up. They return to play to a conclusion this evening at 7pm.
On the other table, Welsh qualifier Jak Jones earned a 5-2 lead over International Champion Zhang Anda before the pair were pulled off two frames early.
Jones defeated Zhou Yuelong 10-4 on Judgement Day to appear at the Crucible for the second consecutive year, while Zhang is in the final stages as a seed for the first time.
It was Jones who top scored with 75 on his way to opening up a 5-1 advantage this morning. A 38-minute last frame of the session went the way of Zhang who kept himself in touch. The concluding session is tomorrow morning at 10am.