Mark Selby kicked off his World Snooker Championship campaign today as he bids to go one better after losing last year’s final, setting to dispel a below-par season in the hope that he can claim a fifth Crucible title, but is on the verge of being on the wrong end of a major upset as he trails Joe O’Connor 7-2.

He is hoping to avoid joining Luca Brecel in surprisingly being dumped out of the competition at the first hurdle, as last year’s winner suffered a late collapse in his 10-9 defeat to David Gilbert on the opening day.

Brecel, who defeated Selby in last year’s final, said afterwards: “It was not easy being ill, but I tried. I don’t think I could try any harder but it’s not an excuse. Everyone gets ill sometimes. It was a great match. Work on my fitness most of all, trying to get back in shape. For me, that’s the most important thing at the moment.

“Snooker is second place so I hope I get at least stronger for next season but first, I need some time off.” Former world champion Shaun Murphy also got his campaign off to a start against Haotian Lyu today, after Judd Trump saw off Hossein Vafaei 10-5.

Keep up to date with all the latest snooker scores with Express Sport below…