Xiao's perfect Day as dud Judd dumped

SHEFFIELD, England - China's Xiao Guodong reached the second round of the World Snooker Championship for the first time on Wednesday with a 10-4 win over Ryan Day while world No 2 Judd Trump crashed to a shocking loss.

Xiao becomes the fourth Chinese player in the second round, following Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo and Marco Fu. He will next take on world No 1 and defending champion Mark Selby.

World No 44 Xiao, whose only other Crucible experience was a 10-8 loss to Ali Carter in 2014, opened up a four-frame advantage over the Welshman and led 6-3 after Day won three in succession.

Xiao then began the second session in fine form, making two half-centuries on his way to winning the first three frames.

A break of 98 from Day reduced the arrears slightly before Xiao set up a second-round meeting with Englishman Selby.

"It was a bit of an embarrassing day at the office. My concentration was poor all day really," said Day.

Meanwhile, Trump, the 2011 runner-up, lost 10-8 to 46-year-old qualifier Rory McLeod.

Trump, who won the opening four frames on Tuesday but trailed 5-4 overnight, continued to struggle on Wednesday and found himself one frame away from defeat at 9-7 when play was halted until the evening.

McLeod, a 1,000-1 longshot to win the title at the start of the tournament, then took two frames to finish the job and set up a second-round meeting with Scotland's Stephen Maguire.

Another Scot, Graeme Dott, the 2006 champion, overcame two-time finalist Carter 10-7.

"I certainly tried to attack the ball as best I could, when it was necessary," said Dott.

All-Chinese clash

China's No 2 Liang fought back from 4-5 down in the first session to record a 10-7 triumph over Stuart Carrington on Tuesday, setting up an all-Chinese meeting with world No 4 Ding.

It was the first win for Liang, this year's English Open champion, at the Crucible since making the last eight in 2008. The 30-year-old was beaten by Ding in the first round in Sheffield in 2009.

"Today I played well at times and not very well at others," Liang said. "I started quickly tonight and that was after Stuart got three centuries in the first session to put me under a lot of pressure.

"I wanted to control the table. I wasn't bothered about scoring heavily, I just wanted to win. I knew that after three or four years of drawing a hard first match, this time I got a player I had a chance against.

"Me and Ding are very good friends. I'll just enjoy the game and give the fans a game to enjoy, it should be a good match."

Ding, who became the first Asian player to reach the Crucible final last year, reached the second round by beating compatriot Zhou Yuelong 10-5.

Afp-Xinhua