Former world champion Stuart Bingham books his place in the second round

Stuart Bingham made smooth progress into the second round of the World Snooker Championship, converting his overnight lead into a commanding victory over David Gilbert at the Crucible.

Former world champion Bingham set up a meeting with Mark Allen or Fan Zhengyi as he turned an overnight lead of 6-3 into a 10-4 result, maintaining a perfect record in 13 matches against his opponent.

Bingham had slipped 3-1 behind during Saturday’s play, but was dominant thereafter and wrapped up the four he needed with minimal fuss in the first session.

Having already won the match, the 2015 victor was looking to end on a high as he sniffed a century break. However, he had to settle for a run of 98 as he failed to convert the final red from the cushion.

In the morning’s second match, 2016 finalist Ding Junhui led Iran’s Hossein Vafai 5-4 in a tightly contested affair.

Ding took the first frame and then compiled a clearance worth 72 to go 2-0 up, but Vafai had shown glimpses of form with a couple of striking long pots. He was relieved to open his account with a spot of good fortune, edging a tense 40-minute third frame when a missed double on the pink crept unexpectedly into the corner pocket.

After the scores were levelled Ding reeled off a break of 134 to clear the table but he could not get away from his opponent.

An uncharacteristic early error on the brown opened the door for Vafai to take the seventh and he also landed the final frame of the session to keep the deficit at one ahead of Monday’s resumption.