“I was 3-0 down in that match, and I couldn’t see myself winning a frame, it was that bad,” added Milkins on World Snooker Tour during a wildly undulating contest that saw him thump his cue into the ground in frustration in losing the 17th frame after butchering an attempt at a pink along the top cushion.
Robert Milkins fell over the line and into round two of the World Championship after beating Pang Junxu 10-9 in an error-strewn clash at the Crucible.
The Sheffield fans have been treated to some superb play in the opening few days, but the level dropped markedly on Tuesday evening.
Pang began the evening with a 7-6 lead, but Milkins won the first two of the evening to edge in front.
The contest see-sawed for the rest of the evening, with Milkins edging over the line to avoid becoming the seventh seed to fall in the opening four days of play.
A scrappy opening frame boiled down to a battle on the colours with both players making mistakes – which turned out to be a theme of the session.
Pang missed a long yellow by a distance, handing an opening to Milkins and he cleared to draw level at 5-5.
Pressure reared its head early, with Pang making a series of poor shot choices. It took Milkins four attempts to make the telling break, but a run of 58 saw him take the 11th to move in front for the first time in the match.
For all Pang’s struggles, Milkins was a long way short of his free-flowing best. He handed a series of chances to Pang in the 12th – once when fouling on account of a jump shot – and the Chinese player took the 12th to snap a run of four Milkins frames on the run to level things at 6-6.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/04/23/3954452-80302753-2560-1440.jpg)
Milkins fouls by jumping over black ball
The 13th was an attritional battle, littered with errors. The telling mistake came from Milkins when an attempted pot did not even threaten the jaws and came back out for Pang. Arriving at the table with a 23-point lead, Pang picked off a break of 32 to secure a lead heading into the final interval.
The poor standard of play continued after the interval, with both players making mistakes and strange shot choices.
Pang found a rare moment of quality with a stunning long red, but two balls later missed a straight red and Milkins – who seemed concerned about his tip following the jump shot earlier in the evening – mopped up the mess to draw level.
Milkins found a superb opening red in the 15th, but then missed a blue off its spot and returned to his seat with his head in his hands.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/04/23/3954515-80304013-2560-1440.jpg)
‘Can you believe it?’ – Milkins misses a blue off its spot
Pang did not cash in on a single visit. Four bites were required to get to the snookers-required stage, but he inexplicably played an escape from a snooker with too much pace and left a free ball.
The chance looked a good one for Milkins, but his pot of the black was terrible as he failed to gain position and Pang took advantage to move back in front at 8-7.
Pang had the chance to get within one frame of the winning line in the 16th, but missed the penultimate red. Milkins found a superb piece of cueing to knock in a red along the top rail and he knocked in the colours to draw level.
The 17th saw Milkins smash his cue into the floor in disgust after failing to pot a pink, as Pang took the frame to get within one frame of victory.
After looking devoid of confidence, Milkins produced a special break in the 18th – with a run of 76 coming on the back of a superb opening red to take the contest to a decider.
None of the previous nine frames of the session were won at a single visit, so a clean kill in the decider was never likely to happen.
Pang had the chance, but ran out of position from a black and missed a red to the yellow pocket.
A second chance fell Pang’s way, but he missed a green to right middle.
Milkins inherited a favourable table with the reds well split. There was huge pressure on his shoulders, with his place in the world’s top 16 on the line, and he was unable to make a clean kill as he broke down on 49.
A safety battle on the final two reds followed, and Milkins made the decisive move when Pang made a hash of a double and he closed out the win – letting out a huge roar of delight when knocking in the winning green.
Barry Hawkins won the final two frames of the session as Ryan Day eked out a 5-4 lead.
Day ran through four frames on the spin midway through the session – the highlight being a break of 110.
Hawkins dug in and ended the evening with a break of 93 to leave the match well poised ahead of their concluding session on Wednesday evening.
