Stuart Bingham produced an incredible comeback to beat Mark Williams 6-5 in the opening round of the UK Championship, winning the final four frames on the spin.
Conditions appeared to play a part in the contest with both men finding it very difficult, following Judd Trump and Neil Robertson complaining about the table earlier in the day.
Williams looked like he was set for a quick win as he took a 4-1 lead and Bingham really struggled to find any form.
The Welshman was not at his best either, but Bingham was missing easy shots and looked a broken man in his chair at times.
At 5-2 in Williams’ favour it still looked like it was going to be a comfortable evening for him, but Bingham finally hit his stride, making breaks of 57, 79 and 82 to take the contest to a decider.
Even then, things were not entirely comfortable for the Englishman as he bizarrely managed to pot the black off his break in the 10th frame.
He was clearly feeling a lot better by the decider, though, as he got in first and made 32, but broke down after missing a speculative attempt at a plant.
Williams could not take advantage, though, as his own form had deserted him by this stage, with Bingham getting over the line.
The Welsh Potting Machine had certainly malfunctioned, finishing the match with a pot success rate of just 84 per cent.
‘I think I’m in more shock than anyone else that I’m here winning that,’ Bingham told Eurosport. ‘It was a game of two halves. I was all over the place but I knew Mark weren’t playing well. So I felt that if something clicked I could get back into the match and the last four frames were pretty good.’
Williams was impressed with how Bingham dealt with the heavy table conditions in York, but not with the conditions they had to play in.
‘I thought he played really well to come back, how he made breaks in them conditions, I don’t know,’ said the Welshman. ‘I couldn’t have made any breaks out there if I was there all night and that’s why I lost.
‘They were really tough conditions and he played better than me towards the end.
‘It’s a bit disappointing because I’ve been practicing all weekend up here playing quite good. The practice facilities are absolutely superb but it’s so tough out there.
‘You could put me out there tonight, I could have 10 line-ups on my own and I would never clear them up, ever.
‘It’s tough, but it’s same for the both of us, you’ve just got to adapt.’
Bingham agreed it was extremely difficult, blaming it on the type of chalk used by Ronnie O’Sullivan and Luca Brecel, which he feels impacts the cloth.
‘I put it down to the two players in the tournament using Triangle [chalk] and they’re out now,’ said Bingham. ‘I think the conditions will play a lot better now. When the Triangle chalk gets in the cloth it can change the conditions totally.
‘With it being reclothed now, I think we’ll be in for a scoring fest from the last 16.
‘You see it at the Worlds, the table plays nice then you follow Ronnie or Luca and the table plays different, but it’s up to them what they do.’
Bingham clearly worked the conditions out though, saying: ‘I was a bit lost for the first half the match, just couldn’t control the match, but something clicked.’
Bingham has Zhang Anda next in the last 16 after the Chinese star beat Lei Peifan 6-3 with a 147 along the way.
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