Wales’ Mark Williams was pleased with his performance as he began the defence of his World Championship crown with a victory over Martin Gould.

The 44-year-old was handed a tough first-round opponent and managed to come through the contest via a 10-7 scoreline.

Williams, priced at 17.00 to win the tournament, had led 9-4 at one point at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield but Gould did all he could to produce a late fightback. He managed to reduce the deficit to 9-7 before Williams sealed the win in front of a delighted crowd.

The three-time champion advanced into the second round after controlling the 17th frame and he will now meet either David Gilbert or Joe Perry.

Williams admitted he had been looking forward to the tournament for months and was delighted with his performance on Saturday.

He told World Snooker: “The first round is always one of the toughest to get through and he was probably one of the hardest qualifiers to draw.

“I just think my form has been improving for the last month or two and it showed there. Even though the last few frames were a bit scrappy, overall it was good.

“It was absolutely brilliant walking out this morning as defending champion. I’ve been looking forward to that for months. The cheer and support that I had was unbelievable. It was probably the loudest applause I have ever had walking into an arena. It was a brilliant feeling, I was buzzing.”

Scotland’s Stephen Maguire was playing on the other table at the Crucible and he trails 5-4 against China’s Tian Pengfei.

Maguire has lost in the first round in eight of his 15 previous appearances in Sheffield and he now needs to win six of the last ten frames to avoid another early exit. Despite trailing he is 1.85 to win, while Tian is 2.00 to pull off a shock victory.