World Championship: Dominic Dale and Neil Robertson reach second round at Crucible

Dominic Dale: Welshman will take on Michael Wasley in second round

Dominic Dale beat Mark Davis 10-5 in the opening round of the World Championship, his first victory at the Crucible since 2000.

The Welshman led 7-2 overnight and took two of the first three frames when play resumed on Thursday afternoon to move to the brink of the second round.

Davis mounted a belated fightback with runs of 69 and 61 and won the 14th frame on a re-spotted black to keep the match alive.

But Dale, who had lost in the first round on his five Crucible appearances since reaching the quarter-finals in 2000, closed out the win with a 57 break.

Dale will play Ding Junhui's conqueror Michael Wasley in the last 16.

Comfortable

Neil Robertson also comfortably cleared the opening hurdle in his bid to win the tournament for a second time, the 2010 champion easing to a 10-2 victory over Robbie Williams.

The Australian left-hander had held a 7-2 lead heading into Thursday's session and did not take long to cross the finishing line, including producing the biggest break of the event so far.

Robertson managed a 140 clearance to move to the brink and then followed that up with 102 in the next, helping him seal a clash with Mark Allen next.

Meanwhile, Ali Carter rallied from 5-1 down to trim his deficit to 5-3 at the end of the first session of his second-round match against Mark Selby.

Carter started and finished with centuries - 102 and 110 - but in between Selby rolled in three half-centuries to hold the early edge in the best-of-25 contest.

O'Sullivan trails

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan also finds himself trailing by the same scoreline against Joe Perry, though things could have been even worse for the five-time winner after he had at one stage found himself 4-1 behind.

O'Sullivan produced a 116 clearance to make it 4-2 and then cut the gap to a solitary frame when he followed up his century with a decisive run of 75.

However, a break of 99 from Perry checked the progress of 'The Rocket' and gave the 39-year-old a 5-3 advantage heading into the second session on Friday afternoon.

Thursday results:

Dominic Dale (Wal) 10-5 Mark Davis (Eng)

Neil Robertson (Aus) 10-2 Robbie Williams (Eng)

• World Championship. Click here to bet.