Ditton’s Barry Hawkins beaten 10-8 by Wales’ Ryan Day in First Round of World Snooker Championship at the Crucible

Barry Hawkins made history for all the wrong reasons with his First Round exit at the World Snooker Championship.

Welshman Ryan Day fought back from 8-5 down to beat the Ditton cueman 10-8 on Wednesday, and Hawkins’ defeat equalled the record for the number of top-16 seeds beaten in round one - eight.

With John Higgins’ match against Jamie Jones in the balance at 5-4, the Hawk could yet be part of a club nobody wants to join.

"I made too many mistakes, we both missed a lot of easy balls,” Hawkins said on wst.tv.

“I had the momentum at 8-5 but then lost confidence, and fair play to Ryan because he stood up. It's a frustrating way for the season to end.

“The qualifiers are sharp and not scared of anything - most of them are good enough to be in the top 16."

Hawkins’ exit will be all the more frustrating given his failure to qualify in 2023 - the first time he missed the game’s blue riband event since 2005 - and his return to top tournament-winning form this season with victory in the European Masters Final over Judd Trump.

Qualifier Day hadn’t won a match at the Crucible since 2014, but four successive frames gave him a 5-2 lead. Hawkins then hit his stride, racking off six in a row, including a break of 90, to move within two of the Second Round and a probable match-up with seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan.

That was as good as it got for him, though, with poor safety play and some misfiring shots all that Day needed as he won the last five frames to send Hawkins home early.