Reigning title holder Kyren Wilson is out of the 2025 World Snooker Championship on the opening day of the tournament following a shock 10-9 defeat to qualifier Lei Peifan in round one.
World number two Wilson lifted this trophy 12 months ago for the first time in his career, but he will play no further part in this latest edition after becoming the 20th first-time champion at this venue to fall victim to the famous ‘Crucible Curse’.
Wilson arrived in Sheffield after the best year of his life on the baize having doubled his ranking event title haul within that period from five to ten, as he blossomed whilst wearing the world crown.
After a jittery start that saw him go 2-0 down, though, everything was going according to plan for 33-year-old Wilson as he strung together six consecutive frames - featuring breaks of 66, 82 and 136 - to take control at 6-2 up.
However, world number 39 Lei - who was making his Crucible debut - stopped the rot and claimed the last frame of the morning session on the final pink to stay in touch at 6-3 down.
On resumption several hours later in the evening, surely no-one could have predicted the mini-session that China’s Lei would enjoy as runs of 50, 60, 75 and 89 helped him deposit the first four frames to go back in front at 7-6.
After their final mid-session interval, it was more of the same as Lei registered runs of 69 and 92 in extending his winning streak to seven frames and move one away from a memorable victory at 9-6 up.
The wheels had seemingly fallen off for Wilson by this point, having scored a total of just 44 points all night. But as we regularly see in these long formats, the pendulum would swing the other way again.
An effort of 106 from Wilson in frame 16 stopped his opponent's streak, but it looked like Lei was going to get the job done in the next when he was within a few pots of the winning line.
However - having been aided by a huge fluke earlier in the contribution - Lei overcut a red whilst on a break of 60, and later in the frame Wilson cleared up with a 45 to pinch it on the final black and build momentum.
Another opportunity to close out the tie came for Lei in frame 18, however, he was unable to convert, and the defending champ fashioned a run of 60 on his way to forcing a deciding frame.
With what had gone on in the previous three frames, you could have forgiven Lei for retreating, but the 21-year-old remained positive with his shot selection in the final frame, and he was rewarded as he compiled a decisive break of 66 under huge pressure to eventually go through, and send Wilson home.
From amateur to ranking event champion to Crucible giantkiller
Although Lei stepped on to the Crucible carpet this morning as a firm underdog for the match against arguably the player of the season, he was by no means an unknown.
Earlier this season just before Christmas, Lei created headlines as he stunned the snooker world when he became one of the unlikeliest ranking event champions of all time after defeating fellow countryman Wu Yize 9-5 in the final to win the 2024 Scottish Open.
Adding in qualifying for the main draw of the World Championship for the first time, and then dumping out the reigning champion on day one, it has been a remarkable year for Lei, who didn’t even hold a professional tour card last season having previously been relegated from the sport’s top tier.
Next up for Lei in round two is a meeting with either last year’s runner-up and number 16 seed Jak Jones, or former UK Champion and compatriot Zhao Xintong who is making his Crucible return following the expiration of his ban from the sport.
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