Daniel Wells triumphed 10-9 in a final-frame decider as he shocked Gary Wilson to achieve the televised stage of the World Championship for the primary time.
Welshman Wells, 36, led 6-2 however was put underneath extreme stress from three-time ranking-event winner Wilson, who compiled three half-centuries and a century on his approach to levelling at 6-6 within the fourth-round qualifier.
Nevertheless, Wells repeatedly edged again in entrance in a nip-and-tuck finale and sealed his win following a break of 52.
It represents a surprising success for Wells, who has dropped off the principle tour a number of occasions since first turning skilled in 2008 and been employed cleansing bathrooms and working a burger van up to now.
Now forty ninth on the planet, 32 locations beneath Wilson who was the highest-ranked participant in qualifying, an emotional Wells mentioned: “I do not know the way I held myself collectively, I could not even rise up.
“I used to be questioning if it could ever occur. I really feel I’m ok to be there and I’ve labored actually exhausting. It must be the most important win of my profession. After I was 19 I misplaced 10-9 to Barry Hawkins within the ultimate qualifying spherical and I assumed the world was at my ft.
“Issues have not labored out that manner and I have never come shut once more till now.”
World quantity 73, Zak Surety, can even make his Crucible bow after claiming an emphatic 10-3 victory over fellow Englishman Ricky Walden.
In the meantime, David Gilbert, who was a semi-finalist 12 months in the past, fought again from 7-3 and 9-7 right down to defeat Eire’s Aaron Hill as he secured his spot in snooker’s showpiece occasion.
China’s Zhao Xintong will turn into the third novice to play on the Crucible, after James Cahill in 2019 and Michael White in 2022 after advancing previous England’s Elliot Slessor 10-8 in a high-quality contest which contained breaks of 134, 127 and 103 from Zhao, and 114, 113 and 126 from Slessor.
