TWO-TIME world champion Mark Williams will have to call upon his vast experience to reach the second round of the World Snooker Championship as he trails fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens.

Stevens leads the first-round encounter, a repeat of the 2000 World Championship final, 7-2 after a scrappy first session at the Crucible Theatre last night.

Gwent potter Williams beat the Carmarthen cueman 18-16 in the final 15 years ago, and also lifted the trophy in 2003, but looked like a shadow of that player on Tuesday evening.

The 40-year-old did claim a scrappy opening frame but Stevens then reeled off three on the trot, including fluent breaks of 111 and 96.

The gap was narrowed to 3-2 but the 37-year-old continued to make light of his 21-place ranking deficit with a gritty 51 break to restore the two-frame advantage.

Following a 36-minute seventh frame it was world No.35 Stevens who pinched it on the black and he made it 6-2 after accruing 28 points in fouls in the next.

At one point this season, Williams looked in danger of missing out on automatic qualification for the Crucible but finishing as runner-up at the PTC Finals, in addition to strong showings at the World Grand Prix and Indian Open, sealed his place.

And the Cwm man will need to recapture some of that form to overhaul a five-frame deficit after Stevens posted a run of 20 to pinch the final frame of the session.

The pair will play to a finish from 2.30pm today with a potential second-round contest against five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan on the line.

And the winner will be Wales’ sole representative left in the tournament following Ryan Day’s ignominious 10-3 exit to Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen yesterday.

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