World Championship 2017: Neil Robertson beats Noppon Saengkham in first round - BBC Sport
Former champion Neil Robertson is made to wait before beating Noppon Saengkham in the first round of the World Championship.
Last updated on .From the section Snooker

Former champion Neil Robertson was made to wait before seeing off Thailand's Noppon Saengkham 10-4 in the first round of the World Championship.

The 2010 Crucible winner resumed 8-1 ahead, but Crucible debutant Saengkham finally relaxed to win three of the first four frames on Thursday.

A break of 76 saw Robertson, ranked ninth in the world, take the frame he needed to close out victory.

The 35-year-old Australian will face Marco Fu in the second round.

"I am very happy to get through. The damage was done yesterday when I took advantage of his nerves on his debut and punished his mistakes," Robertson said.

"Today he came out without any pressure on him and he knocked in a lot of great balls to nick a few back. But at 8-1 ahead you will have to not to turn up to get beat from there.

"I was a little bit slack on a couple of shots but regained my focus after the interval and was determined to finish it off."

In the afternoon's other match - the first second-round encounter of this year's tournament - world number 14 Kyren Wilson leads 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham 5-3.

Wilson, 25, raced into a 5-0 lead against his out-of-sorts opponent, but Bingham recovered to score two 50s in taking the three remaining frames of the session.

In the evening session, Ronnie O'Sullivan faces Shaun Murphy in a mouthwatering and potentially spiky last-16 match.

It is five-time champion O'Sullivan's first appearance since accusing snooker bosses of bullying, claims that 2005 champion Murphy said were "completely wrong".

Barry Hawkins resumes 7-2 up against Tom Ford in an all-English affair, the final first-round match to be played.