Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

Image source, PA Media

Ryan Day spoke to the media in his post-match news conference after losing to Luca Brecel and the 45-year-old has said he will not be quitting the sport but was frustrated with his efforts.

He said: "Even with a 5-1 lead I was looking over my shoulder and not looking forward. I'm just not over-confident and I'm definitely not the player I once was.

"I turn up and play and try. I've been doing it a long time so it's obviously a lot closer to the end than the beginning. I would've beaten myself up the way I played if that had been a couple of years ago but I've come to terms with it.

"I still like competing, I just haven't got the game that I had. As long as I'm on the tour I will still play and make a living out of it. I need to try to do something different [with his game] but I can't see my game really improving much."

If you weren't with us earlier today, Luca Brecel beat Ryan Day 10-7 to reach the second round for only the second time in his career. The other time he managed it, he won the title in 2023.

In the opening match of round two, qualifier Chris Wakelin established a 6-2 lead over world number eight Mark Allen.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Welcome back. The sixth evening session of the 2025 World Snooker Championship is coming up, and it features two titans of the sport.

England's Mark Selby didn't have it all his own way in the opening nine frames against fellow Leicester cueman Ben Woollaston, but the four-time world champion begins this deciding session of their match with a 5-4 lead.

It is the last of the first-round matches to reach a conclusion and the winner will tackle China's Si Jiahui in the last 16.

If the pace and play of last night's opening session are anything to go by, this evening could deliver one of those beloved late-night Crucible nail-biters.

Second-round action takes place on table two as Scotland's John Higgins - also a four-time past champion at the Crucible - faces China's Xiao Guodong. They play eight frames to begin their best-of-25 tussle.

Image source, PA Media

Thanks for being with us for coverage of the first of Thursday's two sessions at the World Snooker Championship.

Live text updates and BBC TV coverage will resume at about 19:00 BST, as Mark Selby takes on fellow Leicester potter Ben Woollaston for a place in round two, while another four-time champion John Higgins begins his second-round match against China's Xiao Guodong.

Steve Davis, who won six world titles in the 1980s, was not surprised to see Brecel surge back into the match after trailing 5-1 in the early stages.

"It seemed it was on the cards. It seemed Ryan wasn't confident enough to win the match, in a nutshell," Davis said on BBC Two.

He urged Brecel to start his next match with more purpose, while suggesting there is hard work to come for Day as he looks to extend his career on tour.

"Living to fight another round, [Brecel] can perhaps play a bit more accurately early on, not put himself in the hole so quick in the match," Davis said.

"For Ryan, it's going to be tough for the rest of his career now unless he does something about his technique.

"I don't think it's a mental problem. He needs to spend a couple of months being robotic, staying still on the shot. If he gets his technique stronger, his mental attitude will improve."

Shaun Murphy
2005 world champion on BBC Two

On Brecel's run of flukes:

Some of the shots he knocked in were just typical, weren't they.

These are lucky shots, let's get it out there.

You can't do anything about it, but we're making no excuses for Ryan. He had chance after chance after chance.

Ryan Day, speaking to BBC Two after losing 10-7 to Luca Brecel in round one:

"It's just a bit disappointing. I had plenty of chances all the way through the match.

"I'm not the player I once was. It's unfortunate, but we keep on trying.

"It's been like it for quite a few years and doesn't feel like anything's changing soon or quickly.

"I'm 45 now, I'm not getting any younger and I'm finding it tough, the older I get, to keep my composure a bit."

Luca Brecel, speaking to BBC Two after completing a first-round win over Ryan Day:

"It's good to win, I was expecting to win to be honest. It wasn't the best game but I always felt I was a bit more on top of him and a bit more relaxed maybe. It paid off in the end.

"Last night, when I got back to 5-4 from 5-1 down, I played some good stuff. If that goes 7-2 or something, I'm going to lose. That was a turning point but, even at 5-1 down, I still felt OK and relaxed."

On facing Ding Junhui in a best-of-25-frame second-round match next: "It's not my favourite format but I'll have to deal with it and see what happens."

Dennis Taylor
1985 world champion on BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Ryan Day will come forward and congratulate Luca Brecel.

In the end you will have to say the Belgian 'Bullet', the former world champion, wins the match reasonably comfortably.

Congratulations to Luca Brecel, winning a first-round match at the World Championship for just the second time.

He's taken nine of the final 11 frames to get the job done against a fading Ryan Day.

We know what happened on the previous occasion that Brecel won his opener - he beat Mark Williams in round two, then Ronnie O'Sullivan, Si Jiahui and Mark Selby to get his hands on the trophy.

In terms of natural talent, Brecel is up there with the true artists and great entertainers of this sport.

Is he a serious title contender this year? It would be almost as much of a shock as it was two years ago because he's so unpredictable. A sharper opponent than Day could have punished him in this contest.

Don't count him out though. The best-of-25 match against Ding sounds like a match you'll want the popcorn out for - it starts on Saturday evening at 19:00 BST.

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion

That blue [in frame six] was the shot of the session and since then Chris Wakelin has been a different player. It's just given him belief and confidence.

John Virgo
1979 UK Championship winner

Mark Allen is in a bit of a hole here. They will resume tomorrow morning and it is a must-win session for Mark if he's going to get anything out of this match.

Chris Wakelin is almost halfway to the winning line at the end of the first session.

The qualifier needs a couple of bites of the cherry in frame eight but he gets the job done and he leads world number eight Mark Allen 6-2.

The magic number of frames needed to reach the quarter-finals is 13.

They will resume their second-round contest on Friday at 10:00 BST and then return for the evening session to complete the match.

Chris: Why did Ryan Day walk out? He was only five points behind even with the foul?

Junaid: Might be a silly question, how did Brecel win the frame without having to pot the black?

If there is a foul with only the cue ball and the black remaining on the table, that constitutes the end of the frame. As the seven penalty points put Luca Brecel in front, that meant he won the frame.

Dennis Taylor
1985 world champion on BBC Sport

Where's the cue ball going? No, not in the pocket.

That's the last thing Ryan Day thought would happen there.

What a way to lose a frame of snooker.

Luca Brecel didn't have to do anything. Now he needs just one frame to get through to the second round.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Wakelin will definitely be in front at the end of the first session of his second-round match against Mark Allen - but will it be by two frames or four?

Frame eight will be the final frame of the session, with sessions two and three scheduled for Friday at 10:00 BST and 19:00 BST.

Brecel hits the front and leads 40-8 early on, but again Day has a big chance to get right back into the frame.

Surely Day has to seize the moment and he nudges one point ahead of Brecel before missing a red with the rest, perhaps distracted by applause coming from spectators watching the other table.

Still, Day gets another opportunity and extends his lead to 20 points before missing the green, which Brecel flukes with a long-range double that he surely was not planning. What drama.

Brecel adds the rest of the colours to the pink before the frame comes down to a safety tussle on the black, with two points the difference.

Day takes on a double - he's going all in.

But he misses, and instead the white drops in - oh no! Is his World Championship coming to a disappointing end?

Chris Wakelin has us all, including commentators Stephen Hendry and John Virgo, thinking about the possibility of a 147 break in the early stages of frame seven. Reds and blacks to start and the balls all in decent positions.

That prospect quickly disappears but Wakelin knocks in his fourth half-century of the match to take a 53-point lead.

As mentioned earlier, Chris Wakelin's first-round win over Neil Robertson was a first ever victory at the Crucible for one of the most improved players on tour over the past two or three years.

His only ranking event success came at the 2023 Shoot Out - a tournament comprised of one-frame matches played to a time limit.

Since then, the 33-year-old has reached finals at the Northern Ireland Open and the International Championship.

There's every chance he'll be back among the world's elite - ranked in the top 16 - at the end of this World Championship.

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion

The blue was the obvious highlight and it's probably going to be the highlight of the whole afternoon session. It was a beautifully cued shot.

It looks like at the very least Chris is not going to be behind going into the second session of this match.

He wasn't the favourite coming into this against Mark, but he has the chance to have a lead [at the end of the session] with two frames to play.

He'll be delighted with the way this is going so far.