Chris Wakelin withstood a stirring Crucible comeback from Neil Robertson to beat the Australian former champion 10-8 and seal his place in the second round of the World Snooker Championship for the first time. The 33-year-old from Rugby, who had not won a match at the famous venue in three previous attempts, resumed with a 7-2 lead but was rooted in his seat as Robertson reeled off five frames on the bounce to haul the match back level. But shellshocked Wakelin recovered his form at the right time, twice poking his nose back in front before riding his luck to clinch a dramatic 18th frame and finally confirm his place in the last 16. “I must have had five or six chances in that last frame and I just fell over the line,” Wakelin told the BBC. “You’re playing against one of the best players of all time and a 7-2 lead is no guarantee at all. I told my friends I could easily lose four frames in a row without doing too much wrong and that’s pretty much what happened.” Robertson has form for come-from-behind wins at the Crucible having recovered an 11-5 deficit to beat Martin Gould 13-12 in the second round en route to his solitary world title win in 2010. But having wiped out his overnight deficit, Robertson twice fell back behind before spurning a series of chances to force a decider, as a visibly shaking Wakelin went in-off, misjudged a respotted black, and left his opponent a free ball. Robertson, returning to the final stages after falling in qualifying last year, reflected on having left himself too much to do after Saturday’s opening session. “It was a huge ask after yesterday, 7-2 was a really unfair reflection but the way I played in the session gave me a lot of hope,” said Robertson. “To win the first four was fantastic but then the interval came and I didn’t quite get that momentum going again.” Also in a drama-filled evening session, 11th seed Barry Hawkins surrendered a slender overnight advantage to Iranian qualifier Hossein Vafaei, whose pressure-filled break of 73 in the decider sealed a 10-9 win and a second round meeting with Mark Williams. Williams was forced to dredge up every ounce of his Crucible experience to sink rising Chinese star Wu Yize 10-8 and book his place in the last 16 for the 22nd time in his career. Williams, who turned 50 last month, delivered two near-faultless final frames to hold off his opponent, who had spurned a golden chance to seize a 9-7 advantage when he missed a frame-ball red with the rest. The Welshman’s win was all the more remarkable considering his ongoing battle with failing eyesight. Williams said his eyes had “completely gone” after defeat to Ding Junhui in the Players’ Championship in March, and is booked in for lens replacement surgery in June. After brilliantly crafting breaks of 58 and 75 to get over the line, Williams paid tribute to Wu, saying: “Some of the balls he can pot is incredible and he’s got the ability to win this tournament, no question. But I got stronger towards the end and if I can’t outscore or outpot him, I suppose I can outwit him.” Mark Allen also had to dig deep to chisel out a 5-4 overnight advantage against world number 46 Fan Zhengyi. Earlier, the Chinese surge had showed no sign of abating as Xiao Guodong and Zhao Xintong produced impressive displays on the second morning of tournament. Xiao followed compatriot Lei Peifan – who stunned defending champion Kyren Wilson on Saturday night – into the last 16 after completing a 10-4 victory over qualifier Matt Selt, while Zhao built a 7-2 lead against last year’s beaten finalist Jak Jones.