SHEFFIELD (England), April 24: Australian qualifier Quinten Hann produced the shock of the World Snooker Championship so far by knocking out world number nine Paul Hunter Tuesday.

Hann, a first round loser in two previous visits to The Crucible, edged to a 10-9 win after coming back from 6-3 down at the resumption of play.

He reeled off three frames in a row to level and went in front for the first time at 8-7. Hunter made breaks of 101 and 92 to force a last frame decider, but Hann held his nerve to win.

Hann admitted afterwards that he thought at one stage he was heading for another first round exit.

Hann now plans to relax before his next match against Stephen Lee which starts Sunday.

Hunter, who underwent surgery just a week ago to remove some cysts, refused to use that as an excuse.

The ever-popular Jimmy White thrashed Dominic Dale 10-2 to cruise into the second round of the tournament.

White, a beaten finalist at The Crucible on six occasions, wasted little time in wrapping up victory after leading 6-2 from the first session.

Even the appearance of a male streaker in the opening frame of the evening failed to put White off as he secured the four frames required in just over an hour.

Despite the margin of victory, White feels there is still plenty of room for improvement.

White now faces Matthew Stevens in the second round.

Lee held off Chris Small’s determined challenge to complete a 10-7 first round win.

Small cut Lee’s lead to just one frame at 6-5 after trailing 5-1, but a snooker on the pink in the 13th frame proved to be the turning point. Lee potted pink and black to win 57-56 and claimed two of the next four frames to seal victory.

Anthony Hamilton leads Dave Harold 5-4 while Mark Williams has a 6-3 advantage over John Parrott.

Latest results and scores:

Stephen Lee (England beat Chris Small (Scotland) 10-7; Jimmy White (England) beat Dominic Dale (Wales) 10-2; Quinton Hann (Australia) beat Paul Hunter (England) 10-9; Mark Williams (Wales) leads John Parrott (England) 6-3; Anthony Hamilton (England) leads Dave Harold (England) 5-4.—Reuters