Kyren Wilson scored the biggest first round win at the Cazoo World Championship in three years, beating Dominic Dale 10-1 before being tipped as a title contender by his opponent.
With the most emphatic first round Crucible scoreline since Mark Selby beat Kurt Maflin 10-1 in 2021, Wilson played the best snooker of this year's Championship so far as he strolled into a second round tie with Joe O'Connor. World number 12 Wilson made a century and eight more breaks over 50 as he reached the last 16 for the ninth consecutive year. Runner-up in 2020, the Kettering cueman has appeared in the semi-finals on two other occasions.
Dale said: "Kyren's game is in wonderful shape, I witnessed it from my chair and his focus and attention to detail never wavered. He is a contender for the title because he's playing fantastic snooker."
Wilson is yet to reach a ranking final this season, but looked in fine fettle as he ratted in breaks of 52, 75, 123, 96, 50, 77 and 73 in taking an 8-1 lead in the first session. He made a 65 in the opening frame this morning to extend his lead. In frame 11 he was on target for a 147 which would have made him the first player to score Crucible maximums in back-to-back years, but the last few reds were awkwardly placed and he missed the 12th on 88.
"It was strange coming back at 8-1 but I tried to keep doing all the right things in terms of what time I got up this morning and making sure I practised before the session," said 32-year-old Wilson, who won the last of his five ranking titles at the 2022 European Masters. "I scored heavily throughout the match and that is an asset for me. Even though I haven't had the results I wanted this season, my scoring stats are still good (only Judd Trump has made more centuries).
"Some players are suited to the Crucible environment and I would like to think I'm in that mould. If I continue like that then someone will have to play very well to stop me. Joe O'Connor will be a very tough test, I wasn't that surprised when he beat Mark Selby because I know how good he is. He is also well suited to the Crucible, he has an all-round game and doesn't get fazed easily."
At 52, Dale was the oldest player to compete at the Crucible since Steve Davis in 2010. Determined to enjoy the occasion and an extra few minutes on the famous stage, before the session started the charismatic Welshman took the microphone from MC Rob Walker to address the crowd, and spoke German phrases to a group of fans from Vienna he had met in his hotel.
"I just feel lucky to have played here again at my age," said Dale. "Who knows whether I will get back here? I hope so, I'll be trying next season. I hadn't played here for ten years and I was battling the occasion because it's so different to other venues. I never settled into the match, even when I made a century in the fourth frame. I was a fish out of water and Kyren annihilated me. In a way I would rather lose 10-1 than 10-9 on the black, because I was never in it."