Belgium's Luca Brecel produced a breathtaking session of snooker to end 7-1 up on Chinese number one Ding Junhui at the Halo World Championship in Sheffield.
In the commentary box, six-time World Champion Steve Davis described Brecel's performance as the best session of exhibition snooker he's ever seen at the Crucible. When the players left the arena at the conclusion of play, they received a standing ovation from the capacity crowd on table two.
Brecel took just 17.5 seconds per shot in the quickfire session, as he produced snooker reminiscent of when he lifted the World Championship trophy two years ago. In the times since then, he has drifted down the Johnstone's Paint World Rankings, having struggled with his form. If he were to lose this match he would tumble from seventh in the world to 41st.
It was Ding who started with a sublime 141 to get play underway. However, from that point on it was a snooker masterclass from 30-year-old Brecel. Breaks of 121, 78, 55, 100, 88 and 88 saw him surge to seven frames on the bounce. They return tomorrow afternoon from 2:30pm for the second of three sessions.
On the other table, Si Jiahui moved 5-3 up on Ben Woollaston after the first session of their second round encounter. Si top scored with 65 and took the final frame of the evening on the pink to emerge with his lead.