Stuart Bingham overcame a late wobble to clinch a 10-7 win
over Ashley Carty and reach the second round of the Betfred World Championship.
Bingham looked to be cruising to victory at 9-4, then
appeared to lose his way as he was hauled back to 9-7. But the Essex cueman got
over the line to set up a last 16 meeting with Alan McManus or Mark Williams.
World number 14 Bingham won
this title in 2015 and is aiming to join the small group of just six players –
Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and
Mark Selby – to lift the trophy on multiple occasions at the Crucible.
Bingham, who won the Masters
title in January, held a narrow 5-4 overnight lead but soon gave himself
daylight today as he rattled through the first four frames in less than an
hour. Breaks of 109, 96, 57 and 58 put him 9-4 ahead.
Crucible debutant Carty pulled
one back with an excellent break of 83, and snatched the next after Bingham had
missed a straight-forward pot on the final green. The fight-back continued as a
run of 56 helped Carty win frame 16 and close to 9-7.
Last year at the same stage,
Bingham let slip an 8-1 lead against Graeme Dott, eventually winning 10-9. This
time he was able to end the tension with a break of 82 to seal the 10-7 result.
“I felt great at 9-4 at the
interval,” said the 44-year-old. “I took my foot off the gas and memories of
the Dott match started coming back. I threw my arm at a few shots and Ashley
started playing well. So I was happy to finish it with a nice break in the
end.”
