Brecel begins title defence with lead over Gilbert in Crucible opener

Luca Brecel began his World Snooker Championship title defence in impressive fashion, building a 6-3 first-session lead over David Gilbert in the tournament opener.

The reigning champion looked sharp from the first break as he got off to a blistering start at the Crucible in Sheffield.

He fired in a break of 91 in the opener and followed it up with a dominant century (134) – helped by a brilliant double on the yellow to sustain the break – to take an authoritative two-frame lead.

Brecel had a great chance to strengthen his early advantage when he was gifted an open pack at the beginning of the third frame, but he could only manage 24 points before he made a mess of a safety shot to give Gilbert a rare opportunity at the table.

But the Englishman’s problematic start continued as he caught himself in a tight bunch, which cost him a miss on a simple red to the bottom left pocket. However, Brecel was not as devastating as he had been to that point, as Gilbert returned to the baize to pull a frame back.

Despite Brecel’s excellent start, Gilbert backed up his 70 break in the third frame with a knock of 77 to pull level as the pair headed for the mid-interval session.

Following the break, a refreshed Brecel returned to the table and capitalised on an error from Gilbert, who left a long red for the ‘Belgian Bullet’ to kickstart another half-century knock (73) and regain the lead.

After rediscovering the free-flowing best he had showed in the opening frames, Brecel strategically dropped a magnificent final red into the bottom right as he went on to record his second century of the match (104) and restore his two-frame buffer.

The seventh frame became scrappy, with both players missing shots you would have expected them to put away. Brecel stepped up and showed some superb positional play on the blue ball to come in and out of baulk and set up his next red, which helped him over the line for 5-2.

Just as Brecel threatened to run away with the opening session after an audacious long red at the start of the eighth frame, Gilbert replied with a magnificent break of 115 to reduce the deficit to two frames.

A long-winded ninth frame followed, but Brecel just about did enough to stretch his lead once more to take a three-frame lead into the final session.

The pair will resume their 19-frame match on Saturday from 18:45 UK time, live on Eurosport and discovery+.