Stuart Bingham edged a keenly contested opening session against Jack Lisowski to lead 5-3 at the Cazoo World Championship.
Both players are among the highest profile qualifiers to have emerged from the English Institute of Sport earlier this month. Here at the Crucible, Bingham defeated tenth seed Gary Wilson 10-5 in round one, while Lisowski beat Ding Junhui in a 10-9 thriller.
It was Lisowski who got off to a lightning quick start this evening, firing in runs of 82 and 88 to move 2-0 ahead. That didn’t deter 2015 World Champion Bingham, who replied with runs of 90 and 89 on his way to five on the bounce and a 5-2 advantage.
A crucial last frame of the session went the way of Lisowski, with a break of 51 helping him to end just two behind at 5-3. They return tomorrow afternoon at 2:30pm.
On the other table, Kyren Wilson earned a 6-2 advantage against Joe O’Connor in their second round encounter.
The Warrior scored an impressive 10-1 defeat of Dominic Dale in the first round, while O’Connor scored a shock 10-6 win over fellow Leicester cueman Mark Selby.
The opening frame went the way of Wilson on a re-spot, before O’Connor took the second to restore parity at 1-1.
A run of three on the bounce from Wilson, including breaks of 105 and 71, helped him to move 4-1 up. O’Connor pulled one back, but the last two of the session went the way of Wilson, who ran out with a four frame lead. Their second session takes place tomorrow evening at 7pm.