World Snooker Championship 2016 Results: Saturday's Scores and Updated Schedule
Defending World Snooker Championship titleholder Stuart Bingham was eliminated from the competition in the opening round on Saturday after a gripping encounter with Ali Carter, eventually losing the final-frame decider 10-9.
On Day 1 of the 2016 edition of the tournament, the champion found himself 5-4 down at the end of the first session, with his opponent playing superbly earlier in the day. Carter then took a decisive 8-5 lead in the evening session before Bingham's inspired return to form.
Trailing by three frames at the mid-session interval, last year's champion returned refocused to produce some stunning pots to win four frames in succession before Carter held his nerve to win the last two frames in a dramatic finale.
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Elsewhere, Marco Fu completed a dominant 10-2 victory over Peter Ebdon as the 2002 champion tumbled out. Hong Kong cueman Fu raced to a 6-2 lead in the early session before two breaks of 71 helped him complete an impressive evening passage.
Shaun Murphy holds a 5-4 lead over Scottish opponent Anthony McGill at the halfway point of their first round encounter, while two-time semi-finalist Stephen McGuire trails Alan McManus 3-6 ahead of tomorrow's completion.
Here’s a look at how the first stanza of the competition panned out in Sheffield.
| Stuart Bingham | 4-5 | Ali Carter |
| Marco Fu | 6-2 | Peter Ebdon |
| Stephen Maguire | - | Alan McManus |
| Anthony McGill | - | Shaun Murphy |
| Stuart Bingham | 4-5 | Ali Carter |
| Marco Fu | 6-2 | Peter Ebdon |
Morning Recap
Getting the championships underway as the holder would have represented a special moment for Bingham and a confident performance in the first frame saw him take a slender advantage. But Carter is an experienced competitor at the Crucible and roared back in the contest.
It was a pretty spectacular run from the two-time runner-up, as he rattled off five frames in succession to go 5-1 ahead, including breaks of 78 and 50. As noted by Matt of ProSnookerBlog, Carter was also capitalising on some errors from Bingham:
Bingham won a nervy seventh frame 5-2 after Carter missed a brilliant chance to move five ahead and it proved to be something of a turning point.
He gained some vital momentum going into the penultimate frame of the session, though, as the champion put together a solid break of 96. He then won the ninth frame, his third in a row, with another clinical break, keeping in touch with his opponent.
On the other table two veterans of this championship went head-to-head, with Fu getting the better of Ebdon in a session of high quality snooker.
Fu, who has only ever made it to the semi-final of this competition, set the tone for this one with a fine break of 84 in the first frame. And while Ebdon levelled up in the second, the man from Hong Kong was clearly in the groove.
The 38-year-old took the third frame after a tight battle, but serenely moved through the gears in the fourth and fifth with sublime, back-to-back century breaks of 111 and 138. Here’s a look at the first of those two tremendous sequences:
Another 84 followed, with Fu pushing into a 5-1 lead. Ebdon, who had been getting used to sitting in his chair, did respond to take the seventh, although he was still clearly struggling to put breaks together.
Eventually, Fu took the eighth frame after some meticulous early work gave him a big advantage.
Bingham faced a big test if he was to make it through to Round 2. Carter is a player that’s very capable when matches get tight. As the reigning champion, there are plenty of competitors in the field who would have been pretty pleased to see him fall at the first hurdle.
Afternoon Recap
2005 Champion Shaun Murphy got his Crucible campaign underway against Anthony McGill in the afternoon session and will take a 5-4 lead into tomorrow's morning decider.
In a repeat of last year's quarter-final meeting, it was a balanced affair in the early stages, with both men winning a frame each before McGill won two in succession. 2015 runner-up Murphy then responded with a trio of frames to leapfrog his rival into the lead with breaks of 76, 109 and 55.
However, Scot McGill reduced the deficit to one with a 70 break in the final frame of the session to leave the matchup finely poised ahead of the concluding session.
On the other table, experience appears to be accommodating world No. 29 Alan McManus against Stephen McGuire.
After starting the match in fine fettle, McGuire took three of the opening four frames. However, he could do nothing to prevent the accuracy and care from McManus as his 43-year-old compatriot won the final five frames to finish the session with a three-frame advantage.
After securing the final place in the 16-man tournament with his run to the semi-finals of the China Open, McGuire is now just four frames away from a fourth consecutive first round exit in the Championship.
Evening Recap
Fu strolled into the last-16 of the competition with a sublime showing on Day 1 as he dismantled the experienced Ebdon with four frames without reply in the evening session.
When the luck is going your way, everything seems to find the pocket. Here's Fu fluking a blue into the middle on the way to victory:
Most of the damage was already done by the time the pair re-appeared for their late session following Fu's heroics in the morning period. However, the two-time ranking tournament winner concluded the job professionally with a 44 clearance before two frame-winning breaks of 71 to seal the result.
One of the great Crucible classics unfolded in the late action on the opening day of the tournament as holder Bingham took on two-time runner-up Carter. With the pendulum of momentum swinging both ways throughout the encounter, the result came down to the ultimate frame of the match in order to find a winner.
There was an electric atmosphere around the table, as Carter potted a crucial awkward red on his way to victory:
Bingham returned a changed man following the mid-session interval and appeared certain to claim a famous comeback after taking four consecutive frames to build a 9-8 advantage - ending his run with clearances of 113 and 88. But Carter held on to pull off a shock result as he recorded a century break before claiming the decisive frame to send Bingham home early.
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