Supporters axed as Ashley Carty settles in at World Championships and champion Judd Trump avoids upset

While the 25-year-old was making his Crucible debut on Friday morning - he trails 5-4 to former world champion Stuart Bingham ahead of Saturday morning’s conclusion - news filtered through from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the pilot schemes to allow a limited return of crowds back at selected sporting events had ended due to the rising number of coronavirus cases across the country.

The couple of hundred spectators inside the Sheffield theatre saw Carty struggle initially to adapt to his new surroundings, before the Thurcroft potter rose to the challenge against the Masters champion.

The pair return on Saturday morning and the world No 82 - quoted by tournament sponsors Betfred as 750-1 for the title, and 7-1 just to beat Bingham - will be looking to cause a huge upset.

But there will be no fans, play will continue behind closed doors, although World Snooker Tour chairman Barry Hearn hopes crowds could return for the final on August 15-16.

Hearn said: “We realise this will be a huge disappointment for fans who were excited to witness the magic of the Crucible over the next fortnight, and we feel the same ourselves.

“There is a chance, I’m ever the optimist, a return for the final.”

Both players were guilty of making unforced errors in the opening session, but Carty - who only turned professional in 2018 - grew into the contest serving up a delicious 118 break in frame seven.

In the opening frame, Carty missed the pink to falter on a break of 16, before returning to pot the final red. But with the finishing line in sight, the 25-year-old ran out of position on the blue and Bingham scrambled home.

The Yorkshireman needed to quickly settle down, and a break of 40 looked promising.

He was left smiling when he left a red hanging over the pocket, and snookered Bingham behind the brown.

But it was enough to level the scores at 1-1, before Bingham chipped in with breaks of 48 and 36 to move 3-1 in front.

The duo returned from the mid-session break to trade frames, Bingham firing in the highest break of the match so far with a 90 clearance.

Carty - who used to work as a cleaner and sports coach to fund his snooker career - needed to respond, and did so in style with a 118 break.

It was only his 24th century of his fledgling career, in contrast the experienced Bingham has banked 456 breaks of 100-plus.

And the former English Under-21 champion should have made it 4-4, but was guilty of a huge error.

Leading by 30, with just the colours remaining, Bingham needed a snooker.

Carty attempted a safety on the yellow but knocked in the black which was teetering over the pocket and the 44-year-old nipped in to steal the frame.

Even if Carty exits at the first-round stage, he is guaranteed £20,000 - more than he has earned all season - easily his best pay day as a snooker player.

But having already beaten two former world champions in Ken Doherty and Neil Robertson in last month’s Championship League, Carty was undaunted at facing another former Crucible champion in Bingham.

Having won three qualifying rounds at the nearby English Institute of Sport, simply playing at the Crucible is an achievement for Carty.

But he showed the appetite for the battle in the deciding frame, with a 69 break, to trail 5-4 overnight.

The last qualifier from Rotherham to reach the final stages, Shaun Murphy back in 2005, went on to be crowned champion of the world.

And while a world title might not be in Carty’s immediate focus, he did not look out of his depth in the intimidating Crucible atmosphere.

Judd Trump dodged the so-called ‘Crucible Curse’ to move into the second round of the World Snooker Championship as the tournament prepared to re-enter full lockdown mode.

Those fans who watched the defending champion turn a 5-4 first session deficit into a 10-8 win over qualifier Tom Ford are likely to have been the last this season after the government decreed that the event must go behind closed doors from Saturday onwards.

They saw Ford surge into 3-0 and 5-2 leads before Trump ground his way back to seal a win which, whilst largely unconvincing, nudged him a step closer to becoming the first first-time winner to retain their title in the Crucible era.

“I got off to a really bad start because you never want to be 3-0 behind here, and it was always going to be an uphill battle from then on,” Trump told Eurosport.

“It was different to how I’ve been playing all season but I’ve never been a quick starter at the Crucible, I’ve always had to scrap through the first round and it’s always taken some time to get used to the surroundings.

“I’d love to say it felt the same as last year but it’s a bit eerie around Sheffield, it’s normally something special but it’s a bit quieter, you can just feel that something’s not quite right.

“But for me to be able to walk in with my family and my brother, I managed to get them all in on the same day, and I loved experiencing it with all the crowds that could make it out there, and to me that makes the experience special.”

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