2017 World Snooker Championship (Days 4 & 5) - McLeod produces shock of the tournament

A lot had happened in the last two days of the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championship and the fact that Rory McLeod managed to exit one of the top favourites for this year's title, Judd Trump is just one of them.

Judd Trump suffered an enormous shock after losing 10-8 to world number 54, Rory McLeod although the start of the match was clearly indicating him as the man in control.

The Bristolian flew at 4-0 up in no time, but saw himself closing the first session being led 5-4, the nightmare continuing in the last session as well.

The match itself was scrappy and even hard to follow, but despite having a shoulder injury Trump still produced a bit of his signature moves - the naughty snooker - that we all are used to.

Still, McLeod's grit helped him overcome everything and the fact that he turned each chance into a winning opportunity made the difference in the end as he won 10-8 and he'll now face Stephen Maguire in the Last 16.

Clearly, Trump was devastated and even skipped his press conference, which surely will have consequences for we all know it's practically a breach of players' contract.


Another shocker was the tremendous victory that the Chinese star, Xiao Guodong recorded over Welshman Ryan Day; a 10-4 victory to be more precise.

Xiao started in grand style, a top break of 62 helping him go 4-0 up, before Day could hit a 125 and a 72 to pull back three frames on a row.

What happened next was genuine dominance, for Guodong went 9-3 up, leaving his opponent to win just one more frame (with a very good 98 break, may I add) before closing the match.

He now faces the world number one and reigning world champion, Mark Selby.

Shaun Murphy is also through to the next round after beating Yan Bingtao 10-8, a victory that was not easily obtained for the Chinese player put Murphy in all sorts of trouble throughout the match.

The pair ended their first session with Murphy in the lead, at 6-3, a lead that he extended by taking the first frame of the last session.

Yan fought back and managed to conquer two consecutive frames and reduce the deficit with just a top break of 56, but Murphy was sure to counteract by taking the next two to go just one away from victory.


Breaks of 90 and 70 kept the match alive as Yan pushed his limits and tried to make a comeback (not leaving his opponent to pot any balls in the process), but winning-Murphy turned up just in time to end the match in frame 18.

A high quality match was the one featuring the names of Liang Wenbo and Stuart Carrington, the qualifier player trying his best to disturb Wenbo's flow and produce an upset. Sadly for him, he lost 10-7.

Carrington opened a 5-2 lead, after scoring heavily by using breaks of 55, 63, 124, 101 and 107 this actually meaning that he made history for he is now amongst the only four players to ever make three consecutive century breaks at the Crucible (John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson).

But as we all know it, making century breaks it's a great achievement but it doesn't win you the match, at least not always, so when Wenbo came back with breaks of 79 and 60 to pull back two frames, the game was pretty much on.

Carrington drew level at 6-6 with a top break of 50, Wenbo responded with a 71 to go back in the lead, Carrington made it 7-7 but from that point on it was all Wenbo's doing as the Chinese player cruised towards victory.


John Higgins beat Martin Gould 10-6, while Ding Junhui ended Zhou Yuelong's dream of reaching the Last 16 round after using a myriad of breaks (60, 57, 54, 136, 78, 103, 132, 67 and 68) for a 10-5 victory.

Graeme Dott has also safely landed in the next round after a 10-7 defeat of the Captain - Ali Carter, where he will meet the winner of the match Barry Hawkins v. Tom Ford.

Today will the see the conclusion of the last two matches of the first round but also the start of the first two Last 16 ones. This should be epic, so be sure to watch them all!

Thursday's match schedule:

1pm
Neil Robertson 7-1 Noppon Saengkham
Stuart Bingham v Kyren Wilson

7pm
Barry Hawkins 7-2 Tom Ford
Shaun Muprhy v Ronnie O'Sullivan

*all hours are UK time

Photos credit: World Snooker