Lisowski edges into lead over Ding after ‘incredible’ four-ball plant, Wilson in command

Jack Lisowski leads Ding Junhui 5-4 after a captivating opening session of their first-round match at the World Snooker Championship.

Both players went for their shots but neither could get away with a sizeable advantage in the best-of-19 clash.

Ding won the opening two frames and was never behind in the session until Lisowski finished with two in a row to open up a one-frame lead.

The match will be decided on Wednesday morning, live on Eurosport and discovery+.

This was arguably the pick of the first-round ties and it didn’t disappoint, starting at a rapid pace as Ding opened up with a break of 127.

Ding took the second frame despite seeing a break come to an end when the black jumped out of the pocket.

Lisowski hadn’t got going but he managed to get off the mark after Ding potted the white in the third frame.

A long red then set Lisowski up for a break of 91 in the fourth frame as he levelled at 2-2.

Ding restored his advantage after the mid-session interval and up until then there hadn’t been a close frame either way.

But the sixth was tense and tightly contested as both players missed chances.

From 40-1 up, Lisowski saw Ding close to a point behind. The frame then came down to the final four colours with Lisowski leading 57-39.

Lisowski doubled the brown into the pocket and took the frame to make it 3-3.

Ding responded with a break of 90 to take the seventh frame but it was Lisowski who finished on top with breaks of 69 and 67 to end the session with the advantage.

On the other table, Kyren Wilson opened up a commanding lead over Dominic Dale.

Wilson won eight of nine frames, making six half-century breaks and a 123, to need just two more frames to reach the second round.

The only frame qualifier Dale won was the fourth with a break of 120.

The afternoon session sees Mark Allen face Robbie Williams and Mark Williams take on Si Jiahui.