World Snooker Championship 2024 results: David Gilbert beats reigning champion Luca Brecel

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in 2017. This was a major achievement for both Brecel himself and for Belgian snooker as a whole. Brecel had been playing snooker since he was a young boy and had worked hard to reach this prestigious tournament. He faced tough competition from some of the world's best players, but he remained focused and determined throughout. In the end, Brecel came out on top, winning the championship and cementing his place in snooker history. His victory has inspired many young players in Belgium and around the world to pursue their dreams and aim for greatness in the sport.

The BBC Sport crew made their way to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield will be hosting an event from 20 April to 6 May.

Viewing Options: Tune in to BBC TV, access BBC iPlayer, browse the BBC Sport website or use the BBC Sport mobile app to watch the event live. Additionally, you can catch up with selected matches through live text coverage, or stay up to date with Radio 5 Live updates.

On an exciting first day of the 2024 tournament at the Crucible, David Gilbert caused a major upset by defeating reigning world champion Luca Brecel in the deciding frame.

At the conclusion of the initial session, the individual from Belgium was ahead with a score of 6-3. However, this person failed to take advantage of opportunities to secure a victory during the 16th and 18th sequences.

Gilbert, who is currently 31st in the global rankings, displayed remarkable skill with a match-winning break of 65. This has paved the way for him to go up against either Robert Milkins or Pang Junxu of China.

Judd Trump, the second-ranked player in the world, is currently ahead 6-3 against Hossein Vafaei from Iran.

Currently, Ali Carter is winning 5-4 against Stephen Maguire while Jak Jones has a score of 5-2 against Zhang Anda. In addition, Tom Ford is currently leading with a score of 6-3 against Ricky Walden.

Curse Of The Crucible Strikes Again

Before 2023, Brecel had never been victorious in a World Championship match. However, an extraordinary streak during that year altered his fortunes. Through triumphs over former world champions Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Mark Selby, he managed to secure his first-ever world championship.

It has never happened in the history of the Crucible that a new champion has managed to keep their title in the following year. This means that the current champion, who is 29 years old, was trying to defy what is commonly known as the 'Crucible curse'.

Brecel dominated the beginning of the match, gaining a 5-2 lead thanks to his impressive century breaks of 134 and 104. Even though Gilbert managed to score 115 points in frame eight, it wasn't enough to catch up with Brecel's strong performance. Overall, it was a fantastic first session with both players displaying high-quality skills.

However, in the second round, both competitors made errors. Despite this, the game had some exciting moments, with two thrilling frames ending in black-ball finishes. Each player won one of these moments in the first three frames.

Brecel was lucky when he hit the pack of red balls in the fifteenth round, but that allowed him to make a great score of 85 points in his best round of the second session. As a result, he's now leading at 9-6 and is just one point away from winning.

It will be a mystery for the Belgian player to understand how he ended up losing this game.

In the sixteenth frame, he was leading by 55-1 when he didn't manage to hit the red ball properly with the rest. Two frames later, he was ahead by 51-6 when he couldn't put the green ball in the pocket from its spot.

There was yet another chance for excitement when Gilbert came close to winning the match but missed his chance to score when he had a 69-0 lead. Unfortunately, Brecel was not able to capitalize on the opportunity and as a result, the player who made it to the semi-finals in 2019 has moved forward while the reigning champ from last year is out of the competition.

Trump Leads Over Vafaei

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On Saturday, Trump achieved five scores of more than 50 in snooker - specifically, he hit 63, 66, 72, 56 and 77.

In the year 2019, Trump emerged victorious and demonstrated a relentless performance by exploiting every blunder made by Vafaei, who is ranked 19th in the world.

They first faced each other in 2022, where Trump came out with a victory of 10-4. As they finish their match on Sunday afternoon, the Englishman is currently ahead.

Vafaei held a significant lead in several frames of the snooker match, with scores of 56-4, 67-0, and 44-8 in the second, third, and fifth frames. However, Trump managed to make a comeback and emerged as the winner of each of those frames, even managing to sink the pink ball and the black ball in one of them.

Vafaei impressively cleared the table and scored 138 points, winning the sixth frame. Trump managed to win the following two frames, but Vafaei finished strong with a score of 74.

Carter, Jones, And Ford Leading The Way

People thought the match between Carter from England and Maguire from Scotland would be close, and it was. Carter was ahead 5-4 after the first part of the game. Carter has lost in the finals of the Crucible twice before, in 2008 and 2012. Maguire has made it to the semi-finals two times before, but not the finals yet.

During the match, Maguire achieved impressive scores of 114 and 134 in the first five frames. However, his opponent Carter claimed the sixth frame after a tough battle on the black ball, which led to Maguire's growing frustration.

He punched the table in frustration after failing to make a shot in the eighth frame, but he regained his composure and managed to win the final frame, ensuring that the match remained closely contested heading into the final session on Sunday.

In another location, Jak Jones from Wales is currently winning against Zhang from China with a score of 5-2. However, due to time constraints, only seven frames out of the planned nine were played during the first session.

Last year, Jones reached the quarter-finals by defeating Ali Carter, who had been the runner-up twice before, as well as former champion Neil Robertson. In his current match, Jones dominated the 11th seed by scoring breaks of 71, 68, 71, and 75.

They will start again at 10:00 AM British Summer Time on Sunday.

In the game between Ford, who was ranked 10th, and Walden, ranked 32nd in the world, Ford succeeded in taking six out of the first eight frames. However, even though Walden was behind, he impressed in the final frame with a break of 142, which brought him within three frames of catching up with Ford, during the session that concluded on Sunday.

In each first-round match, there are 19 frames played where the player who wins the first 10 frames moves forward.

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