Player of the Year candidate Judd Trump earned a 6-3 lead over Hossein Vafaei after the first session of their opening round clash at the Cazoo World Championship.
Trump has enjoyed a superb season to this point, after racking up five ranking event wins to take his total career tally to 28. That included a sensational three back-to-back wins at this season’s English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open.
Iran’s Vafaei is competing at the Crucible for a third consecutive year, having first qualified for the Theatre of Dreams in 2022. He memorably faced Ronnie O’Sullivan in a grudge match 12 months ago after a war of words. However, O’Sullivan stormed to a crushing 13-2 win.
With Vafaei struggling to gain a foothold in today’s game, it was 2019 World Champion Trump who surged in front. Breaks of 63, 66 and 72 helped him into a 3-0 advantage, before Vafaei crafted a crucial run of 60 to take the fourth and trail 3-1 at the interval.
Trump regained his three-frame cushion when play began, but Vafaei again stayed in touch with a sublime 138 to make it 4-2. The seventh and eighth frames went to Trump, with Vafaei making 70 in the ninth to end 6-3 behind. They return tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm to play to a conclusion.
On the other table, Ali Carter edged a fiercely contested opening session with Stephen Maguire to end 5-4 in front.
It’s the first time the pair have crossed cues since the 2018 UK Championship, on that occasion it was Maguire who prevailed. However, Carter arrives at the Crucible in better form, having appeared in four finals and won the German Masters in the previous two seasons.
A break of 134 put Maguire 3-2 up this afternoon, before a three frame blitz gave Carter control at 5-3. It was Glaswegian Maguire who took the last to stay in touch. They return tomorrow evening at 7pm to play to a conclusion.