Teenager Stan Moody made a stunning start to life at the Crucible and it’s fair to say that snooker legend Steve Davis was very impressed.
The 19-year-old came through qualifying last week to book his debut at the Crucible, defying a bout of tonsilitis to do so.
There has been plenty of expectation on the youngster after he won the WSF Junior Championship in 2023 and turned professional at just 16 years old.
The Yorkshireman has been rising the ranks since then and has reached his first two ranking quarter-finals this season.
While his talent has been clear since a very young age, few expected him to settle onto the most iconic stage in the sport quite as well as he did.
He was handed a daunting task in the draw against world number two and 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson.
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The occasion clearly did not get to him, though, as he breezed to the table and opened up with a fluent break of 84 in the first frame, sinking a couple of stunning long pots along the way.
Another run of 91 saw him take a 3-0 lead and he would finish the session 6-3 up, thanks to further brilliant efforts of 110, 55 and 101.
The game remains in the balance, but the teenager could scarcely have hoped for a better first session at the Sheffield theatre.
As he made those early breaks, Davis said on commentary for the BBC: ‘This is monstrous. This is absolutely monstrous. I know it’s early days but it looks like a star is already being born.’
Sitting next to Stephen Hendry in the commentary box, the Englishman suggested to the Scot that his record as the youngest world champion could be in danger.
‘Stephen, if we see a continuing improvement in this player, we could be looking at the youngest ever world champion!’ Davis said, knowing full well who holds that record.
Hendry might not be cheering Moody on to win in the world title in the next two years, with the Scot winning his first Crucible crown at 21 years old, but he was also blown away by the youngster.
‘What I’ve seen of Stan Moody, I knew he was a good player, but I didn’t know he was this good,’ said the seven-time world champion.
‘So far this has been as impressive a display this year as we’ve seen from anyone.’
The game resumes at 7pm on Monday in a race to 10 frames, with the winner taking on Mark Allen in the second round.