Mark Selby v Joe Perry: World champion Selby faces shock first-round exit

ByEurosport

Updated 21/04/2018 at 18:52 GMT

Defending champion Mark Selby faces a huge task to stay alive in this year's World Championship after falling 7-2 behind to world number 22 Joe Perry in the first round at the Crucible Theatre.

Mark Selby was out of sorts (Richard Sellers/PA)

Image credit: PA Sport

The three-times world champion - who has won the game's biggest prize in 2014, 2016 and 2017 - was never at his best against fellow Englishman Perry, a former Masters finalist who was forced to come through three rounds of qualifying to reach the Sheffield event.

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Perry won the first four frames with breaks of 52, 56 and 63 before world number one Selby had appeared to claw his way back into the best-of-19 frame match with runs of 74 and 92 in the fifth and sixth frames.

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Perry storms into 7-2 lead over Selby

But Perry - a World Championship semi-finalist a decade ago - redoubled his efforts in the final three frames of the session with further knocks of 59, 84 and 109 leaving him only three frames from victory when they resume at 7pm on Saturday evening.

In Saturday morning's other match, world number 68 Lyu Haotian has opened up a 6-3 lead against world number 11 Marco Fu of Hong Kong.

The Chinese debutant Haotian made two centuries in establishing a three-frame lead against a figure who has been absent from the tour recently after eye surgery.