World Championship snooker latest: Neil Robertson beats Liang Wenbo; David Gilbert breezes past Chris Wakelin

Two further centuries and a final flourish of 73 helped the in-form 39-year-old convert a 6-3 overnight advantage into a routine 10-3 win over the former UK Championship finalist.

It is far from the first time Robertson has been hailed as a champion-elect in the early stages of the Crucible, with Shaun Murphy famously calling to “get the engravers ready” after being thumped by the Australian in the 2019 second round.

Robertson said: “At some point you have to cope with becoming the favourite in an event – I’ve always been able to deal with it and it is the really big guns who cope with it the best.

“Over the last seven or eight years, in five of those years I’ve blitzed my opponents and everyone is saying ‘his name’s on the trophy’ already.

“When you run into opponents who make it incredibly tough for you, the onus has to be on you to make it an aggressive game, just to play the matches on my terms and not be worried by the other guy profiting off any mistakes.”

Jamie Jones reeled off five frames in succession to sink eighth seed Stephen Maguire 10-4 and move into the second round just three years after dropping off the tour in the wake of a one-year suspension.

Jones had recovered from a 3-0 deficit to fashion a 5-4 advantage overnight, and capitalised with three half-centuries to complete his victory.

Jones, who reached the quarter-finals on his debut in 2012, said: “This venue holds no fear for me – I’ve seen a few qualifiers come here and collapse, and I never have.

“It can get to you because it’s a really pressurised environment but I seem to cope very well with it. These are the days and nights I played for as a kid, and I feel a lot more comfortable out there.”

Gilbert too hot for Wakelin

David Gilbert is relishing the prospect of another epic “blow-out” after breezing into the second round with a 10-4 win over Chris Wakelin.

The former semi-finalist has admitted struggling through the last year on and off the table with the lockdown restrictions playing havoc with his regular post-event routine.

But the return of fans and the imminent further easing of restrictions have given Gilbert reasons to be cheerful, as have the three centuries and five further 50-plus breaks which saw him ease past Wakelin.

Gilbert said: “I’ve changed my routine from how it used to be – whether I did well or not I used to go out with the lads and enjoy myself and have a blow-out.

“I was just missing those blow-outs, and when I had two weeks off from a tournament I’d sit in my garage all night with my beer fridge and the disco ball on and let some steam off.

“I’m tee-total while I’m in this (tournament), but as soon as I’m out of it or I’ve won it I won’t be, don’t worry about that.”

Gilbert resumed 7-2 ahead of his close friend after a glittering first-day display, but Wakelin dug in to reduce the deficit with two half-centuries of his own in the first two frames upon the resumption.

But Gilbert finished off with a break of 84 to potentially book a second-round meeting with Judd Trump.

Four-time champion John Higgins faces a battle to stay in the tournament as he trails China’s world number 53 Tian Pengfei 4-3 after a below-par opening session.

Things could have been worse for Higgins – who trailed 4-1 before clawing back the deficit – but play was so slow the session was curtailed two frames early.

Cool Bingtao makes Gould pay

Successive century breaks from Yan Bingtao helped him ease past Martin Gould and move safely through to the second round.

Resuming at 4-4 from Saturday’s opening session, the world number 10 dominated proceedings at the Crucible and breaks of 130 and 116 in frames 11 and 12 put him on the road to a 10-6 victory.

Bingtao started the brighter and by winning three of the first four frames of the morning, began to assert his authority before landing two cruel blows from which Gould was unable to recover.

The first came in the 13th frame when Bingtao's clearance to the pink of 70 eclipsed Gould's initial run of 50, and then in the following frame when Gould looked certain to pull a frame back until an untimely kick in the balls cut short his latest visit on 69.

Even the scrapper, Bingtao fought his way back into the frame until a huge slice of luck when fluking the final yellow paved the way for him to clear the colours and pinch the frame on the black.

At 9-5 down, there was no way back for Gould and though he fired in a defiant break of 58 in the next frame, Bingtao soon had the match in safe keeping as he closed out his 10-6 victory.

Anthony McGill holds a slender 5-4 advantage after the first session of his first-round match with Ricky Walden.

Walden posted successive centuries in a run of three frames in a row to go 3-2 in front before McGill hit back, scoring 119 and then an 88.

Sunday April 18
First round - best of 19 frames
Morning session (1000 BST)

• Anthony McGill 5-4 Ricky Walden
• Yan Bingtao 10-6 Martin Gould

Afternoon session (1430 BST)

• John Higgins 3-4 Tian Pengfei
• David Gilbert 10-4 Chris Wakelin

Evening session (1900 BST)

• Stephen Maguire 4-10 Jamie Jones
• Neil Robertson 10-3 Liang Wenbo

Monday April 19
First round - best of 19 frames
Morning session (1000 BST)

• Ding Junhui v Stuart Bingham
• Kyren Wilson v Gary Wilson

Afternoon session (1430 BST)

• John Higgins v Tian Pengfei (to a finish)
• Jack Lisowski v Ali Carter

Evening session (1900 BST)

• Anthony McGill v Ricky Walden (to a finish)
• Kyren Wilson v Gary Wilson (to a finish)

World Championship content

• Richard Mann's World Championship outright preview
• Pundits' predictions including qualifiers to watch out for
• Ronnie O'Sullivan interview as he demands protection from fans
• Part one of our Ronnie exclusive as he labels Mark Selby a 'bad loser'
• World Snooker draw, schedule, results, format and TV info
• Richard Mann's loveletter to the Crucible Theatre
• Watch every 147 break in Crucible history