World Snooker Championship: Judd Trump survives fightback from Tom Ford
Judd Trump survived a fightback from Tom Ford to edge through 10-8 to the second round in Sheffield.
Last Updated: 23/04/14 11:25pm
Runner-up to John Higgins in Sheffield in 2011, Trump was well beaten in the semi-finals by Ronnie O'Sullivan last year and has endured a distinctly mediocre 2013-14 season, with a run to the German Masters final his best achievement by far.
The Crucible finale presented Trump with a chance to put it all right, but the 24-year-old was drastically out of sorts in the second session of his clash with Ford, seeing a 6-2 overnight lead reined in.
Leicester-based qualifier Ford got back to 8-8, and another major shock, after the early defeats for Ding Junhui and John Higgins, was in the offing.
But with his tournament hanging in the balance, Trump dug deep and ground out two attritional frames to win and set up a second-round clash with Ryan Day.
Trump said he felt "relief" at reaching the last 16, admitting: "Every time I got in I didn't feel comfortable."
But he added: "It doesn't matter how you play if you become world champion."
Allen through
Mark Allen, meanwhile, won five successive frames to quickly wrap up his clash with Michael Holt by a 10-4 scoreline, a 65 in the final frame proving the only break of note in a low-key second session.
The Northern Irishman then revealed afterwards he had sought treatment for food poisoning in the lead-up to the match, which had got underway on Tuesday, and had struggled to see his shots clearly, not that it cost him.
"I've got a few days to rest now," he said. "I've had a bit of food poisoning, haven't been feeling too good the last few days.
"An hour and a half before the match yesterday I was in the NHS walk-in centre, trying to get treatment.
"At times out there I couldn't see the balls, I had blurred vision. I wasn't able to see anything more than three feet away, it was a guess. Thankfully I managed to guess right on a few."
Marco Fu clinched a last-16 tussle with Shaun Murphy by fending off Martin Gould 10-7, avenging defeats in the first round at the Crucible he suffered against the same opponent in both 2010 and 2011.
Former world champion Neil Robertson took his century count for the season to a remarkable 95 with efforts of 132 and 103 in establishing a 7-2 lead over Wallasey's Robbie Williams.
Dominic Dale is also ahead by the same score against Mark Davis, the Welshman managing runs of 56, 71, 69 and 67 to leave himself within striking distance of a second-round match-up with Michael Wasley.