Date: 17 April-3 May 2010 Venue: The Crucible, Sheffield
Coverage: Live coverage each day on BBC Two, BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website (UK only), updates on BBC Radio 5 Live. Full TV schedule

Welshman Ryan Day suffered his first first round Crucible exit for three years

Ryan Day insists he must "evaluate on a poor season" after becoming the highest-ranked casualty of the first round of the World Championships.

The Welshman, world ranked number six, was shocked 10-8 by Mark Davis at the Crucible as Day disappointed after successive quarter-finals in Sheffield.

"It was a bad match on the back end of a bad season," Day told BBC Sport.

"I struggled in every tournament I played and I have failed to get into any kind of rhythm this season."

Day's career-best 2008/09 season fired him to sixth in the world rankings, as he started the season as Grand Prix finalist before reaching the semi-final of the China Open and the last eight at the World and UK Championships.

But the 30-year-old did not maintain such high standards this season, as quarter-final appearances in the Masters at Wembley and his home tournament the Welsh Open were relative highs in a poor year.

Day's opening-round defeat at at the World Championships is the third time he has fallen at the first hurdle in tournaments this season, while he was knocked out in the second round in China.

World Snooker, the sport's governing body, has long suffered criticism from players for the lack of regular tournaments - and the Bridgend potter blamed the lack of consistent competitions as a reason behind his dip in form.

606: DEBATE Mark Davis has improved a lot this season and maybe he is the the most improved player outside of the top 16 blogsfcvfs

The six-month snooker season boasts just six major competitions and Day hopes new snooker chief Barry Hearn can breathe fresh life into the struggling sport.

"I have to evaluate on a poor season," admits Day.

"There weren't that many events and I didn't really get into any rhythm.

"I tried to keep myself going and gee myself up for the Worlds but I presented Mark with too many chances and made it far too easy for him.

"Hopefully things change in the coming weeks and hopefully there will be far more opportunity to play snooker next season and I'll go away and get ready for next season.

"I have had a bad season and this will draw a line in the sand and hopefully things change we can all move on and look forward to exciting lines.

"Too much time between tournaments didn't help me. And when you suffer a bad defeat, sometimes you have two months to wait before you pick up your cue and get on with the next game.

"Maybe I dwelled on things a bit too much in the time in between matches, whereas if I played the next week and won I'd forget about my defeats.

"It's almost like starting a new season six times a year before each tournament as they are so infrequent."

Englishman Davis, who defeated Day on Wednesday after leading 5-4 overnight, had only reached the second round once previously when he lost to Peter Ebdon in 1995.

The 37-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career and will now face Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the second round.

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