Kyren Wilson fell victim to the ‘Crucible Curse’ as he crashed out in the first round of the World Snooker Championship in a dramatic 10-9 defeat to China’s world number 39 Lei Peifan.
Wilson lost seven frames in a row in the course of becoming the 20th first-time Crucible champion to fail to defend his title, and the seventh to fall in the first round the following year.
Debutant Lei, one of a record 10 Chinese players in this year’s draw, looked down and out at 6-2 behind but staged a stunning recovery, including a run of six consecutive half-centuries, to move to the brink of victory.
The 21-year-old then had to withstand a stirring Wilson comeback before delivering a pressure-filled break of 66 in the decider to send the defending champion tumbling out.
Wilson had arrived at the Crucible on the back of a season that yielded four ranking titles and a final appearance at the Masters, and expressed confidence that he would be the man to put the 48-year-old ‘curse’ to bed.
In Lei he came up against a 21-year-old who clinched a shock ranking title win at the Scottish Open in December, but looked so nervous on the big occasion that he potted the blue from his opening break-off of the match.
Wilson helped Lei settle those nerves by missing two early blacks and gifting his opponent a two-frame lead, but the Englishman took full control by winning the next six, including back-to-back breaks of 82 and 136 to establish a commanding advantage.
Lei gave himself hope by snatching the last frame of the morning session, and spectacularly increased his momentum upon the evening resumption, as a run of four consecutive half-centuries carried him into a 7-6 lead at the mid-session interval.
Wilson got the first chance after the short break but stabbed at a long red on 19 and was punished by his opponent, who responded with a break of 69, including a stunning long green, to move within two frames of an improbable victory.
There was still no sign of nerves as Lei pounced on another early Wilson error with a scintillating break of 92, his sixth consecutive half-century, to go 9-6 up.
Wilson stopped the rot with a rousing clearance of 106, and two more nerveless clearances of 45 and 60 respectively set up the decider which went the way of the underdog.
Elsewhere, three-time world champion Mark Williams withstood a Chinese whirlwind to edge a 5-4 advantage over rising star Wu Yize in a match that will conclude on Sunday.
Williams eased into a 3-0 lead only for Wu to reel off the next four frames with a run of 466 unanswered points – only 19 off the tournament record set by John Higgins in 2000.
But Williams responded by taking the last two frames of the session, finishing with a break of 78 to re-establish his slender advantage.
Another former champion, 2010 winner Neil Robertson, is in real trouble after falling 7-2 behind in his match against qualifier Chris Wakelin.
Wakelin opened with a break of 108 and hit four further half-centuries as he threatened to overwhelm the Australian, and after clinching a marathon final frame of the session on the black, the 33-year-old is hot favourite to complete an upset win.
China’s 14th seed Xiao Guodong fired two centuries as he established a 7-2 overnight lead against Matthew Selt, while former finalist Barry Hawkins chiselled a 5-4 advantage over Hossein Vafaei.
