World Snooker Championship 2022 - Mark Selby leads Jamie Jones at interval, Zhao Xintong in control against Jamie Clarke

Mark Selby showed glimpses of his best to lead Jamie Jones 6-3 following the afternoon session of their World Snooker Championship first-round encounter at the Crucible.

Defending champion Selby fell behind after a rusty start but, once he found his rhythm, simply had too much for 34-year-old Jones who missed a massive chance to level the score at 3-3, but now faces an uphill battle in the evening session on Saturday.

Underdog Jones put together a break of 24 in the first frame but could go no further after failing to split the pack. However a poor safety shot from Selby gave Jones a way back in with the table well laid to take the frame. The frame-ball pink took the break from 35 to 41 and was enough to put the defending champion in some early trouble.

Another missed red from Selby in the second frame looked ominous for the world No. 2's chances and he could only string together 18 during his second visit after failing to split the pack off a brown. But Selby would then win the safety battle and, with a brilliant deadweight red to middle for the pink, left plenty on to level up the match.

A plant to kick off frame three saw Selby perfect on the black. Another plant and Selby was cruising until a routine blue to right middle stopped the break at 22 and left the table open for Jones. A litany of errors followed as Jones missed a blue to the green pocket, Selby went in-off from a safety and then Jones missed a long red. Eventually the world No. 2 managed a swift 36 leaving Jones in need of a snooker but a strong break of 71 saw out the frame.

Another poor safety from Jones gave Selby a way in and, now in his groove, he reeled through a magnificent clearance of 134 in frame four to make it 3-1 ahead of the break.

After the pause, Selby screwed a long red to set up a break of 46, but left a red along the rail that allowed Jones back into the frame. A few tough reds and 27 points later he was left with just the colours on the spots and made no mistake, taking the pink on a tough angle and reducing the deficit to one.

Jones looked revitalised after stopping the rot but the sixth frame proved a turning point in the match. Buzzing around the table, Jones hit 45 before misjudging a cannon. Selby let his opponent back to the table after going in-off from a safety, but Jones could not finish the frame off with a further six points required after another poor cannon. This time Jones went in-off, with Selby closing the gap with a rapid 48. The frame took another twist as Selby went in-off on an easy yellow off the spot, and was lucky not to leave anything on with just a five-point lead. But a brilliant snooker from Selby saw Jones sacrifice 16 points and all but hand an epic frame to the defending champion.

In the seventh frame, Jones had the first look but couldn't capitalise with a missed red to the right corner. And Selby was left with a simple starter. A black cosying up to the reds stopped a monster break but another half ton saw Selby take a 5-2 lead. Selby had found his groove and Jones could do nothing to stop a break of 129 in the next leaving him 6-2 down.

In the ninth and final frame of the session, Jones left Selby with an easy red to middle from his break. Selby obliged but his run of 23 came to an end with a simple missed black giving Jones an opening and a chance to pull a crucial frame back. A miss on a red handed Selby four but the world No. 2 gave the table back to Jones after missing an easy red to the left corner. With another brilliant chance, Jones could hardly afford to lose the frame. This time, he got there. A run of 43 and a beautiful snooker that yielded eight points off Selby saw him reduce the deficit to 6-3 and ease the burden he faces in the evening session.

Elsewhere, Zhao Xintong left Jamie Clarke with a mountain to climb, building a five frame lead at 7-2 up ahead of the evening session.

Zhao reeled off three frames in no time and, while Clarke pulled one back before the mid-session interval, Zhao won four of the next five to stamp his dominance over the first-round tie.

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