Favourite Mark Williams has been given an early indication that Matthew Stevens will be a hard nut to crack as Stevens stormed into a 8-4 frame lead in the Embassy World Championship final.
World number one Williams, the 1999 beaten finalist, was 1-2 on to take the title for the first time at the start of the best of 35 frame marathon at the Crucible Theatre. However Stevens, who was 6-4 with the bookmakers, took three of the first four frames and the first session ended with the tie all square at four frames a piece. The 22-year-old returned after the break in sparkling form to race into a four framelead.
M Williams 6-10 M Stevens (BEST OF 35)
(Frame scores Williams first) 50-62, 28-84 (77), 56-33, 23-103 (103), 65-18, 76-61 (Williams 57), 123-0 (123), 35-75 (65), 24-64, 37-91 (85), 21-59, 0-117 (111), 7-114 (114), 79-6 (79), 22-73 (73), 68-0 (Play resumes Monday 3pm)
