Si leads Milkins, Selby ahead of Wilson at World Championship
In a thrilling second-round encounter at the Cazoo World Championship in Sheffield, Chinese debutant Si Jiahui dominated Englishman Robert Milkins in the first session, securing a 6-2 lead. Si earned his debut at the Crucible after coming through three rounds of qualifying, culminating in a 10-7 win over Jordan Brown, and then stunning Shaun Murphy 10-9 in the opening round. Milkins, who won the Welsh Open title by defeating Murphy in a thrilling final, rallied from 7-2 down to beat Joe Perry 10-9 in their opening round encounter.
Milkins won the first fragmented frame, but Si’s talent shone through as he took the next three frames, including breaks of 82 and 103, to take a 3-1 lead into the mid-session. Si then won four frames on the bounce, with Milkins only managing to halve his deficit. Si secured his 6-2 advantage with breaks of 69 and 66. They will resume their match tomorrow evening from 7 pm.
In another closely contested match, four-time World Champion Mark Selby led Gary Wilson 5-3 after the first session. Selby has won two tournaments this season at the English Open and the recent WST Classic, while Wilson claimed his maiden ranking event win at the Scottish Open. Wilson has only advanced beyond the first round at the Crucible once in 2019, when he defeated Selby on his way to the semi-finals. Wilson beat Elliot Slessor 10-8 in the first round.
Selby took an early 2-1 lead before Wilson leveled the match at 2-2 with a break of 71. In a marathon fifth frame, the pair battled it out over safety for 53 minutes, with Wilson ultimately winning it on the pink to move ahead 3-2. Selby then rallied, winning the last three frames of the session with breaks of 74, 64, and 47, to lead 5-3. They will continue their match tomorrow afternoon from 2:30 pm.
