Brecel on high despite Maguire loss

Brecel, who at 17 years and 45 days became the youngest player in the history of the tournament, left the arena smiling despite losing 10-5 to Scotland’s world No 7, a former semi-finalist, in Sheffield.

Brecel showed flashes of his quality during Sunday’s opening session, in which he made his first century on snooker’s most famous stage, but he was always behind and Maguire goes on to play either fellow Scot Graeme Dott or Joe Perry in the second round.

Belgian teenager Brecel, who won four qualifying matches to reach the main draw, was 6-3 behind heading into yesterday morning’s concluding session.

He had been 6-1 behind at one stage but clawed two frames back on Sunday night with breaks of 116 and 62, and followed those with an 86 in yesterday’s opener.

Maguire soon took charge though, and runs of 101 and 94 saw him over the line.

Brecel thrilled the crowd at times with some rapid break-building, but a rash of unforced mistakes cost him. He said: “I found the crowd really enthusiastic and really enjoyed it. The Crucible was a little bit special, different to everywhere I’ve played before. I know I can play so much better. But I want to be back next year and the future will be a different story.”

Brecel will finish the season outside the world’s top 64, but it would be a major shock if he was not awarded a place on the tour for 2012/13.

“I haven’t been told about a wild card for next season. No one has mentioned anything to me about getting one,” he said. “I’m thinking positively about he future.”

Asked about the prospect of becoming world champion in future, Brecel said: “Yes, easy”, before revising his answer, saying: “Yes, it’s definitely possible.”

Maguire was pleased to come through his opening test, and at the time managed to enjoy the sight of Brecel in full flow.

The Glaswegian said: “I was excited to play him, not because it was his first time here but because of his talent.

“He’s a potting machine, isn’t he? He’s one of the fastest players I’ve seen and he’s fearless.

“It was important I got off to a good start to put him under the cosh a little bit, but once he started letting his cue go he didn’t look like he was going to miss.

“I was glad we stopped at 6-3 last night because it was starting to get a bit scary out there.

“He definitely had his chances and missed a few when the balls were sitting well. Lucky for me he missed a couple of big shots when the balls were sitting pretty and that made the difference in the end.”

In other first-round matches, Jamie Jones caused the biggest shock of the tournament so far by knocking out Shaun Murphy. Following the example of fellow Welshmen Terry Griffiths and Mark Williams by winning on his Crucible debut, the 24-year-old from the village of Cimla near Neath beat world No 5 Murphy, the 2005 world champion, 10-8.

Ronnie O’Sullivan turned the most keenly-anticipated first-round match into a procession as he surged 7-2 ahead of Peter Ebdon, while Wales’ two-time former finalist Matthew Stevens finished off Hong Kong’s Marco Fu last night, converting an 8-1 lead from the morning session to a 10-3 victory.