Date: 17 April-3 May 2010 Venue: The Crucible, Sheffield
Coverage: Live coverage each day on BBC Two, BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website (UK only), updates on BBC Radio 5 Live. Full TV schedule Mark Ashenden
BBC Sport at The Crucible |
  Williams never hit top form but still had more than enough to see off Campbell |
Mark Williams was rarely at his best but still had enough to beat Marcus Campbell 10-5 and reach the World Championship second round. The Welshman, eyeing his third world crown, stuttered through the morning and led 5-4 with a top break of 45. The struggle continued in the evening but Williams edged through with knocks of 54 and 71. Qualifier Martin Gould dumped out Marco Fu, Ali Carter beat Jamie Cope, and Mark King leads Steve Davis 5-4. Six-time champion Davis was given a standing ovation as he began his 30th Crucible campaign against fellow-Romford player King on Monday night. It was a slow start for both with King making breaks of 53 and 94 but "the Nugget" hit back with a 77 to level at 3-3. Errors began creeping into the game of the 52-year-old as King regained his two-frame advantage only for Davis to win a mammoth 38-minute final frame to finish the session one frame adrift. Williams, meanwhile, is enjoying a rich vein of form after returning to the world's top 16 and arrived at the Crucible on the back of his China Open win. But it was a hard-earned victory for the 35-year-old who last won the world crown in 2003 as he battled past the Scot who had beaten Matthew Stevens to come through the qualifiers. "It was a struggle. I'm over the moon with the result but not the performance. The first round is a twitchy one," Williams said. The two-time world champion will next play Ronnie O'Sullivan or Liang Wenbo with the Chigwell cueman resuming on Tuesday 7-2 up. Qualifier Gould staged a fine comeback to beat Fu, a former world semi-finalist. He trailed 8-6 before winning the next three frames to lead for the first time in the match. Fu edged a tense frame to level at 9-9 before Londoner Gould clinched the match with a fine break of 90. Gould, 28, beat former Crucible finalist Nigel Bond in qualifying and his victory was the latest in a string of painful reverses for Fu, who began the year as the world number eight. Fu, 32, has won fewer ranking points than any of the top 16 this season and is now clinging to a place in snooker's elite. Gould, who will play either Neil Robertson or Fergal O'Brien in the second round, described the victory as one of his greatest.  | 606: DEBATE |
He said: "It was in the top three at least. It's my biggest pay day so far but money doesn't really bother me. I just want to move up the rankings even further." The bespectacled former poker club croupier spoke of his relief at giving up his former occupation to concentrate solely on snooker. "It was hurting my back a lot as I was sitting in a swivel chair for six, seven or eight hours a night," he said. "In the mornings I just couldn't get out of bed, and also it ruined my drinking weekends as well with friends." The all-English battle between Carter and Cope was effectively decided in Sunday's opening session when Carter opened up a 7-2 lead. Cope, who let slip a 12-10 lead to lose 13-12 against John Higgins in the second round last year, had been expected to make life difficult for the 2008 runner-up. However, Stoke's Cope was not able to recover from his miserable start and Carter fired in breaks of 75 and 83 on Monday on the way to sealing his progress with a 10-4 win. Follow BBC Sport's Mark Ashenden on Twitter BBC Sport's Mark Ashenden's flickr photos
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