Zak Surety was beaten 10-7 by Ding Junhui in the opening round at the World Snooker Championship, but became the first player in history to make four centuries on his Crucible debut.
The world number 73 did brilliantly to qualify for the Crucible for the first time, with three fine wins at the English Instutue of Sport.
The 33-year-old beat Antoni Kowalski, Jack Lisowski and Ricky Walden to book his spot at the iconic theatre and made his lowly world ranking look wildly inaccurate.
However, nerves appeared to have hit him hard early in his match with Ding as he slipped to a 4-0 deficit and looked very uncomfortable on the sport’s biggest stage.
To his immense credit, though, he settled down and finished the first session on Monday afternoon 6-3 behind and still in the match, ending that session with his first Crucible century.
Returning on Tuesday afternoon Surety made three more tons in the first four frames, with a high break of 136, reducing his deficit to just 7-6 behind.
Ding, though, was not rattled and hit back with efforts of 86 and 116 in the next three frames and was one from victory at 9-7.
The Chinese superstar reached the winning line in the next frame and secured his spot in the last 16 but Surety can be very proud of his efforts on his first trip to the Crucible.
Waiting in the second round for the Dragon will be either Ryan Day or 2023 champion Luca Brecel.
It will ultimately be disappointment for the Essex cueman, but it is the end of the best season of his career by far after reaching a first ranking semi-final at the World Open.
More to follow…
MORE: World Snooker Championship 2025 prize money: How much does the winner get?
MORE: Shaun Murphy: Ronnie O’Sullivan has played media like a fiddle for 30 years
MORE: John Higgins ‘the most emotional he’s ever felt’ as he walked to Crucible match in tears
