Brecel fights back to beat Day at World Championship

Former world champion Luca Brecel fought back from 5-1 down to beat Ryan Day 10-7 and move into the last 16 of the 2025 World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.

Belgium's Brecel had won the last three frames of Wednesday's first session to trail 5-4, only for Welshman Day, ranked 36th in the world, to make a break of 101 in the opening frame on Thursday to move 6-4 ahead.

But 2023 world champion Brecel took six of the next seven frames in a scrappy encounter with both players making unexpected errors.

One of those mistakes from Day proved crucial when he potted the cue ball when on the black to hand Brecel the 16th frame.

Brecel will face 10th seed Ding Junhui in the next round, with the match starting on Saturday evening before the second session on Sunday and the conclusion on Monday.

Before his success two years ago Brecel had not won a match at the Crucible, but an epic run saw him defeat Ricky Walden, Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Si Jiahui and finally Mark Selby 18-15 in the final to become the first world champion from mainland Europe.

The 'Crucible Curse', which has not seen a first-time winner repeat their success the following year, struck again in 2024 with Brecel suffering a first-day opening-round loss to David Gilbert.