Graeme Dott, the 2006 world champion, was desperate to wake up from his Crucible "nightmare" after collapsing to a 10-1 loss to Joe Perry in the Betfred.com World Championship yesterday.
It was his heaviest defeat at the venue. "If there was ever a nightmare in snooker, that was it," said the Larkhall man. "I just wanted out. I couldn't pot a ball; I couldn't hit the white. If you told me to hit the white in the last frame, I'd probably have missed it; I just couldn't do anything."
Dott, a three-time finalist in the Crucible, had trailed 8-1 overnight and there was never any prospect of a comeback as his opponent took just 21 minutes to wrap up his first-round victory and set up a last-16 meeting with another Scot, Stephen Maguire.
"I don't think I've played worse, not just at the Crucible but as a professional," said Dott. "I've not really played well all season, but normally, when I'm here, I play well."
Dott was at least spared the embarrassment of suffering the first Crucible first-round whitewash since John Parrott thumped Eddie Charlton 10-0 in 1992. Not that it cheered him up. "I couldn't have cared less if it had been a whitewash; what difference would it make? It's still a drubbing."
Breaks of 59 and 56 did the trick for Perry as he finished the job to set up a meeting with Maguire tonight. Perry only had a top break of 54 as he won eight frames in a row in the previous day's morning session.
"I've got no idea why I played so badly or how I could play as bad as that," added Dott. "My preparation was good and normally I play better here. Everything's fine off the table; there's no explanation for playing that bad."
Perry was just as bemused by having trounced a player he holds in high esteem. "I've never seen Graeme play as bad as that," he said. "We all know how solid he is; he's got such a good all-round game.
"I don't know whether it was to do with old [mental] problems that have gone on, but he just didn't look comfortable. I felt for him.
"He didn't seem to have any fight in him; he got angry a couple of times towards the end of the match but, early on, I picked up the vibe he wasn't his usual self. I haven't spoken to him about the match and I didn't see him around the Crucible to have a chat before the match. I just didn't expect that; I expected a hard slog."
Judd Trump, last year's beaten finalist, considered withdrawing from this year's event after being struck down with food poisoning on the eve of his first-round tie against Dominic Dale but he played on to win 10-7 yesterday, having struggled with sickness and diarrhoea.
"It was the closest I've been to pulling out of a professional tournament," said the Bristol man. "If it had been a smaller event then I would have probably pulled out, but with it being the World Championship I knew I had to go out there. I just need to give myself a chance to stay in the tournament."
Trump returned 5-4 up but slipped 7-6 down to Dale as a surprise looked on the cards. However, Trump, the world No.2, potted breaks of 51, 40, 57 and 40 to keep his title hopes alive.
"I'm feeling really drained because I haven't eaten for two days," added Trump. "I was really struggling, so I was just glad to get out of there."
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