Anthony McGill enjoyed a huge fluke at a crucial moment which helped him wrap up a 10-7 victory over Liam Highfield in the first round of the Betfred World Championship.
Former Crucible semi-finalist McGill was well short of his best during a hard-fought battle against Highfield, but did enough to book a second round meeting with Judd Trump or Hossein Vafaei.
Leading 9-7 and by 39 points to 32 in frame 17, McGill attempted a long red and missed his target, but luck went his way as the balls collided and another red dropped into a top corner. That proved decisive as he cleared with 51 for victory.
“I needed that because if it went to 9-8, Liam would have been confident as he was definitely the better player today, no doubt,” admitted Glasgow’s McGill.