World Snooker Championship 2016 Results: Tuesday's Scores and Updated Schedule
Mark Selby survived a brief rally from Robert Milkins on Tuesday morning to book his spot in the second round of the World Snooker Championship with a 10-6 win.
The 2014 champion started the day poorly before recovering well late on to secure a comfortable triumph. Sharing the floor in the morning at the Crucible Theatre were Neil Robertson and Michael Holt; the latter held a 6-3 lead at the interval in that one and completed the upset during the evening session.
Later in the day, four-time champion John Higgins cruised to a 10-3 win over Ryan Day. Finally, Barry Hawkins ended the evening session's play with a 6-3 lead over Zhang Anda.
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Here’s a look at Tuesday's results and the schedule for Wednesday:
| Mark Selby | 10-6 | Robert Milkins |
| Neil Robertson | 3-6 | Michael Holt |
| John Higgins | 10-3 | Ryan Day |
| Mark Allen | 6-3 | Mitchell Mann |
| Barry Hawkins | 6-3 | Zhang Anda |
| Neil Robertson | 6-10 | Michael Holt |
| Martin Gould | - | Ding Junhui |
| Mark Allen | 6-3 | Mitchell Mann |
| Judd Trump | - | Liang Wenbo |
| Barry Hawkins | 6-3 | Zhang Anda |
| Martin Gould | - | Ding Junhui |
| Joe Perry | - | Kyren Wilson |
Evening Recap
Holt caused the biggest upset of the first round so far, knocking out the former champion Robertson, who was regarded as one of the favourites to win this year's title.
Holt entered the evening session leading 6-3 and immediately went on the attack again, taking the first frame with a break of 79, before Robertson struck back. The break of 79 was significant, as Robertson appeared to be cruising before missing a key shot while leading by 44.
The theme would continue through the night. As shared by Matt of Pro Snooker Blog, Holt looked at a key shot on the table in one of the next frames, knowing he'd hand Robertson a lifeline if he missed:
Holt missed the pot but somehow got the cue ball safe and ended up stealing the frame, taking a 9-4 lead.
Robertson fought back with breaks of 79 and 54 before dropping a scrappy 16th frame, bowing out of the tournament in the process.
Snooker referee Ben Williams praised the underdog for his performance:
While it's a disappointing defeat for Robertson, Holt can celebrate one of the biggest wins he's booked in years. It marks just his second visit to the second round of the World Championships, with his first coming all the way back in 2005.
Anda wasted some big breaks against Hawkins. In fact, he twice hit a 90-plus break, to even things at three frames apiece, before dropping the next three per BBC Sport.
Some of Anda's shots were spectacular, including this one on Blue, part of an 83-clearance to help him take his first frame, relayed by World Snooker:
But Hawkins rallied to score breaks of 66 twice during the last trio of frames. Still, Anda's mercurial brilliance should make Hawkins nervous ahead of tomorrow's afternoon session, despite his ample lead.
Afternoon Recap
Higgins entered the final session with a 7-2 lead over Day, and while he surrendered the first frame of the afternoon, he quickly won three on the bounce to book his spot in the next round.
The four-time champion landed a total of four centuries in the one-sided match, including an impressive 121 in the final frame; however, as shared by World Snooker, he was feeling nervous after Day took the opening frame:
Here's a look at that 121, via Snookerroomru:
For Higgins, it marks his first trip to the second round of the World Championship since 2011, when he ended up grabbing his fourth title. He'll meet in-form Ricky Walden in the next round, in what should be one of the top matches of Round 2.
Mark Allen came back from a 2-1 deficit to finish his opening session with a 6-3 lead over Mitchell Mann, who made his Crucible debut.
Mann took the opening frame with a break of 69 and regained the lead with a clearance of 77, before Allen won five frames in a row to put himself in an excellent position heading into the next session. Breaks of 104 and 85 highlighted his performance, and Steve from Maximum Snooker thought it was just the kind of start he needed:
A big kick in the final frame ended his run, as Mann came to the table to steal the frame. Heading into the second session of this contest, though, Allen looks like the clear favourite to advance to the second round.
Morning Recap
Although he wasn’t playing on Day 4, Ronnie O’Sullivan found himself in the headlines early on Tuesday. That’s after World Snooker issued him a warning after he failed to show up for his media obligations in the wake of his 10-7 win over David Gilbert, per BBC Sport.
Seeking to join O’Sullivan in the second round was Selby, and with a 7-2 advantage secured before the day's proceedings, the 2014 champion wasn’t expected to take too long sewing this one up.
But perhaps with a little complacency weaving its way into Selby's game, Milkins was rampant in the early stages. He won four frames in a row, with consecutive runs of 50, 61 and 62. Suddenly, with the scoreline at 7-6, the Crucible crowd looked as though it was in for a thriller.
And as we can see here, even though Selby did stop the rot in the 14th frame to go 8-6 ahead, Milkins was still producing some magical moments at the table:
Still, as a former champion, there was always going to a response from the man from Leicester, and he came on strong in the latter stages.
Matt from ProSnookerBlog provided us with the statistics behind Selby’s victory:
Elsewhere, Holt took a three-frame lead at the interval of his fiercely contested clash with the 2010 champion Robertson.
First, Holt raced to a 3-0 advantage, with the Australian powerless to prevent his early surge. In the third frame, he rattled in a tremendous break of 140, which delighted the assembled crowd, per Steve of Maximum Snooker:
Robertson came back, though, cutting the gap to two and then rattling in successive century breaks to level the match.
In a game played in flurries, Holt rallied again with the tie level, with another sublime century getting him back in front, before two more narrow frames—including a brilliant steal in the last of the session—put the Englishman in a strong position at the conclusion of the stanza.
As Live Snooker noted, Robertson was so close to cutting the gap to just one before missing a crucial pink:
For Robertson, losing the last two frames in such circumstances will be a huge disappointment. He had chances in both, which would have put him in front in the match had he taken them. The momentum he’s surrendered and subsequently handed to his opponent will make this one tough to turn around.
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