SEEDS KEEP TUMBLING AS BINGHAM KNOCKS OUT WILSON

With eight matches complete at the Cazoo World Championship, five of the top 16 have already been eliminated, Gary Wilson the latest as he fell 10-5 to Stuart Bingham.

Bingham, champion in 2015, has slipped to 29th in the world, but fought his way through the qualifying rounds, beating Stuart Carrington 10-9 and Louis Heathcote 10-8, and has arrived at the Crucible on a wave of momentum. World number ten Wilson joins Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Zhang Anda and Ali Carter in falling at the first hurdle. The record for the most seeds losing in the opening round is eight, set in 1980 and equalled in 1992 and 2012, and that record could be under threat in the coming days.

Basildon's Bingham is making his 16th appearance in Sheffield and has enjoyed deep runs in recent years, reaching the semi-finals in 2021 and quarter-finals in 2022. The 47-year-old will be up against Ding Junhui or Jack Lisowski in the second round.

Though he led 6-3 at the end of the first session, Bingham may have been unsettled by a surprise miss on the black off its spot when he looked set to go 7-2 up. And when Wilson took the frst two frames of the evening session with excellent clearances of 86 and 57, Bingham must have feared that moment would come back to haunt him.

But he took frame 12 to regain the initiative. In the 13th, Wilson was on 34 when he left a blue to centre just short of the pocket, gifting Bingham the chance to make 66 for 8-5. Another unforced error cost Wilson in the 14th as, on 24, he potted a red to a top corner but sent the cue ball into a centre pocket, and again Bingham took advantage with 55. Six-time ranking event winner Bingham dominated frame 15 to clinch the result.

"There weren't many fireworks but when Gary missed chances I punished him," said Bingham. "My game is still in there somewhere and I felt good at times.

"When I missed the black at the end of the first session, I was calling myself every name under the sun. I just got carried away, it was a good clearance up until that point and I was thinking I was going 7-2. Then in the evening when it went 6-5 I was wondering how it had turned around. But I stayed calm, kept going for my shots and managed to start winning frames again."

Wilson, who has often spoken about his technical flaws, said: "All credit to Stuart because he deserved to win. I felt flat and my cueing was awful. This is the best tournament in the world but I wasn't up for the battle and I felt embarrassed. I'm sick of putting myself through it because I know deep down I'm not playing well enough. I physically cannot push the cue through properly or hit shots the way I want to.

"I have won two tournaments this season but I've done it by scraping through, playing ok at times but then struggling again. It's not the way I want to win titles, I just want to show that I can be one of the best players. I might be doing well on the tour and making money, but I am putting myself through torture. I don't think I will ever feel comfortable playing this game. I might just have to accept that and constantly sound miserable!"

On the other table, China's Pang Junxu established a 5-4 lead over Robert Milkins. Pang went 3-0 up with a top break of 57 then Milkins took three of the next four with top runs of 83 and 91. A 42 clearance gave Pang frame eight, but 16th seed Milkins dominated the last of the session to stay in touch. They resume at 7pm on Tuesday, the winner to meet David Gilbert in round two.