Bingham leads after soaking up early Lisowski barrage

Stuart Bingham weathered an early storm from Jack Lisowski to open up a 5-3 lead in their last-16 clash at the World Championship.

Lisowski was red hot early on with breaks of 82 and 88, but a miss with the long rest checked his momentum.

Bingham punished the error and grew into the game to secure a lead heading into Sunday’s second session in the race to 13.

Lisowski was the first to open his account in the opening frame, and he drew a round of applause when keeping his break going with a tough black into a blind pocket – and went on to make 82 to edge in front.

Bingham had a chance to counter in the second, but missed a black off its spot and paid a heavy price as a razor-sharp Lisowski raced through a break of 88 to double his lead.

Bingham’s problems continued in the third, as he promoted a red off his break and Lisowski knocked it in.

Lisowski looked excellent again, but missed a red with the long rest and Bingham settled into the match with a steadying break of 90 which included a stunning pot of the pink.

Taking the third frame enabled Bingham to stop Lisowski’s momentum, and the latter missed a couple of long-range reds in the fourth.

Bingham cashed in on the second of those misses to take the frame and go into the interval on level terms.

Bingham arrived at the Crucible with no form to his name, having lost in qualifying or the first round in a host of ranking events in the 2023/24 season. But the 2015 world champion has positive memories of the Sheffield venue to draw on and he took the lead for the first time in the match when taking a scrappy fifth.

Lisowski had a chance to shift the momentum in the sixth, but he lost position when playing a shot with his weaker hand.

Bingham got going with a lovely double and took the chance with a rock-solid break of 89 that saw him open up a two-frame cushion.

After the early barrage, Lisowski looked a totally different player in the face of Bingham’s pressure. A poor safety in the seventh allowed Bingham to take his fifth frame in a row.

Lisowski ended a yo-yo session on a positive note, as he crafted a break of 51 and later knocked in a stunning red to cut the gap to 5-3 overnight.