Jak Jones beat Zhang Anda 10-4 on Sunday to succeed in the final 16 for the second successive World Snooker Championship.
The Welshman, a quarter-finalist 12 months in the past, prevailed from a low-quality affair with the Chinese language cueist on the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Jones started promisingly with breaks of 75, 58, and 55 serving to him to an early 5-1 lead, and he duly maintained a wholesome buffer from then on.
However the majority of the match proved to be a scrappy affair, with Jones repeatedly profiting from poor play by Zhang.
It was a totally disappointing show from the latter, who represented a seeded participant within the draw for the primary time after a breakthrough marketing campaign.
Zhang received the Worldwide Championship on residence soil and reached the ultimate of two different rating occasions this time period, however the 32 year-old was nowhere close to his greatest right here.
“He’s clearly been one of the crucial in-form gamers of the season,” Jak Jones, who will play both Mark Williams or Si Jiahui within the second spherical, informed the World Snooker Tour.
“He’s had an unbelievable season – particularly to win the Worldwide in China after which get into the 16 as properly.”
“He’s type of pushed on from that as properly, so it’s an enormous win. I believe he missed a few balls unexpectedly.
“However I began lacking a couple of balls as properly. I believe we type of dragged one another down somewhat bit.
“Clearly he’s not performed on the Crucible for 5 years, so it was an enormous event for me and an enormous event for him as properly.
“It type of confirmed in it being somewhat bit scrappy, lengthy frames, however I’ll take the win.
“That match was a bit nervy from the start, so that you both find it irresistible otherwise you don’t really feel excellent, I believe.
“I don’t suppose I felt nice in that recreation. Hopefully, within the subsequent match I could be a bit higher. I wasn’t killing off frames in a single go to.
“Even when it seemed like I used to be going to, I’d play a careless shot or one thing would go fallacious. I’ll have to enhance on that.”
Jones can have a couple of days off earlier than enjoying his second-round fixture on Friday and Saturday in Sheffield.
Zhang, in the meantime, grew to become the second seed to bow out of this yr’s World Snooker Championship after Luca Brecel succumbed to Curse of the Crucible on the opening day towards David Gilbert.
2024 World Snooker Championship Draw
Click on right here for dwell scores and session occasions.
Spherical 1 (bo19)
Luca Brecel (1) 9-10 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins (16) vs Pang Junxu
Ali Carter (9) vs Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy (8) vs Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby (5) vs Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson (12) vs Dominic Dale
John Higgins (13) vs Jamie Jones
Mark Allen (4) vs Robbie Williams
Judd Trump (3) vs Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford (14) vs Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda (11) 4-10 Jak Jones
Mark Williams (6) vs Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui (7) vs Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson (10) vs Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins (15) vs Ryan Day
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) vs Jackson Web page
Spherical 2 (bo25)
David Gilbert vs Milkins/Pang
Carter/Maguire vs Murphy/Lyu
Selby/O’Connor vs Okay. Wilson/Dale
Higgins/Jamie Jones vs Allen/R. Williams
Trump/Vafaei vs Ford/Walden
Jak Jones vs M. Williams/Si
Ding/Lisowski vs G. Wilson/Bingham
Hawkins/Day vs O’Sullivan/Web page
Quarter-Finals (bo25)
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
Semi-Finals (bo33)
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
Closing (bo35)
TBC vs TBC
Featured picture credit score: WST
