Barry Hawkins made it into the second round of the World Snooker Championship for the first time since 2021 at the weekend.
He overcame Matthew Stevens quite comfortably, with a 10-4 victory, to reach the last 16 once again.
It is quite remarkable that the Hawk has not won in five years, being a former finalist and a player widely regarded as an excellent performer in Sheffield.
Hawkins is the third seed out of three so far to negotiate the opening round, following wins for Zhao Xintong and Mark Allen. “The seeds are under pressure in round one because the qualifiers are sharp and hungry,” he said. “I’ve been knocked out early enough times and I know it isn’t nice. So it feels good to still be part of the tournament this time.”
Between 2013 and 2018, Hawkins gained the reputation as a Crucible specialist, as he won more matches at the venue during that spell than any other player, finishing runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2013 then reaching four more semi-finals. However in recent years the well has run dry, losing in the last 32 in 2022, 2024 and 2025 and failing to qualify in 2023. So today’s result is a huge relief for the 46-year-old who arrived in Sheffield still feeling the satisfaction of his triumph at the Welsh Open last month, when he beat Jack Lisowski in the final to land a fifth ranking title.
He’ll be back on the baize on Friday for a best-of-25 frame battle with former champion Mark Williams.
Hawkins trailed 2-1 in the early stages on Saturday but then took six frames in a row with a top break of 99. Stevens, runner-up in 2000 and 2005, briefly threatened a fight back when he took the first two frames today with runs of 54 and 55. But world number 11 Hawkins regained control with 92 and 70 for 9-4, before wrapping up the tie in frame 14 with 27 and 37.
“It wasn’t a good performance from either of us yesterday, but I felt I got stronger towards the end,” Hawkins added.
“I’ll go home for a few days and hopefully come back fresh for the next game because I need to massively improve. I can enjoy it more because there will be less pressure.
“Matthew has got so much class, he has all the shots as well as the experience of getting to a couple of finals. Luckily for me he wasn’t on great form.”