Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Anthony Hamilton completed an amazing turnaround in his World Championship first-round match against Dave Harold by storming to a 10-6 victory here yesterday.
The 30-year-old looked unable to get into the contest when he trailed 4-1 in the morning as Harold began confidently. But suddenly the scales tipped as Hamilton reeled off nine of the last 11 frames to secure a meeting with either Mark Williams or John Parrott on Saturday.
It was a result that condemned Harold – who had compiled a 135 to equal the highest break of the tournament so far – to life outside the world's top 16 next season after a disappointing campaign. The world No 15 became the third seed to fall this week and was unable to pinpoint why he had lost his form after appearing to have this match under control.
"In the first few frames I produced some of my best snooker ever," the 35-year-old said. "How Anthony came back to lead 5-4 I'll never know – it was a travesty and he had quite a bit of 'rub'. But I played abysmally today and he finished me off well. If I'd played to 80 per cent of yesterday's standard, I'd have won, but instead I was only at 50 per cent and you can't beat anyone playing like that."
In the other match of the morning session, Robert Milkins made a great start to his Crucible career against the 16th seed Fergal O'Brien. The 26-year-old from Gloucester led 3-0 and could have gone 6-2 up, but he missed a long blue which allowed the Irishman to pull back to 5-4 down ahead of last night's conclusion.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments