The World Snooker Championship in Sheffield will have a new champion after last year's winner Kyren Wilson left the tournament after a surprising 9-10 loss at the start to China's Lei Peifan 9-10.

Nothing foreshadowed such a development of events after the end of the first session. The Warrior led comfortably 6-3, after making three half-century breaks and a run of 136 points. However, world championship debutant Peifan hung on, winning the ninth game. The Asian's run reached seven frames on the spin in the evening for a shocking 9-6 lead. Peifan made breaks of 50, 60, 75, 89, 69 and 92 points to come within one game of dethroning the champion. Wilson responded in a champion-like manner, leveling the score after runs of 106 and 60 - in between he stole a game in which his opponent had made a break of 60. However, Peifan was given the opportunity to close things out in his favor in the deciding frame and this time he did not buckle under the immense pressure, making a superb 66 for a place in the second round. The match was refereed by Bulgarian umpire Desislava Bozhilova, who will also referee the championship final.

Thus the "Crucible Curse" - the Sheffield theatre, where the 49th edition of the World Championship is being held, caught up with Wilson. No player has managed to defend their title after their first trophy since the world championship has been held at the Crucible. Peifan will face either last year's finalist Jak Jones or his compatriot Zhao Xintong. They will be playing today at 12:00 Bulgarian time.

Several first-round matches will be finished today. A surprise is brewing in the match between Neil Robertson and Chris Wakelin, where Wakelin leads 7-2 frames. Xiao Guodong's lead over Matthew Selt is the same, and Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins have a slim lead in their matches against Wu Yize and Hossein Vafaei, respectively - 5-4. In addition to runner-up Jones, Mark Allen will also start his participation today against Fan Zhengyi from China. | BGNES