Snooker star Stuart Bingham was forced to spend hours in A&E with his son in a 'nightmare' build-up to his Masters victory over Kyren Wilson.
Former world champion Bingham raced into a five-frame lead and held off a spirited comeback from Wilson to win his first round match 6-3 at Alexandra Palace.
And the on-song Essex potter was clearly unperturbed by the disrupted preparations as he plots his bid for a second title at the prestigious invitational event.
Bingham, who has revealed he has been experimenting with contact lenses to improve his vision and arrest a poor run of form, opened up with back-to-back centuries in a fine first round performance.
But Bingham had to deal with a family emergency the night before his clash against world No 8 Wilson as he rushed his young son to hospital with two fractured fingers.
And 'Ball-run' was relieved to have his son in attendance as he put on a show in front of his boy and wife Michelle in North London. “It was so nice to have my boy [in the crowd],” Bingham told Eurosport after his win. “He’s fractured his two fingers playing basketball yesterday.
"I was in A&E in Basildon last night and Michelle came over after a couple of hours and took over, and he’s down there for about six hours. I got back at 9 o’clock, so I had enough sleep, but it was a bit of a nightmare.
“He said to me ‘I’ve hurt my hand’. I’ve looked at it and it looked fine. When I’ve got my come back, his fingers were like, pretty fat and I was like I've got to go A&E. My wife had a charity meeting and so I’ve had to take him down.”
He then joked: "I’ve missed a nice Indian that we’ve pre-booked about two months ago, so yeah it was gutting, but the boy comes first.”
Bingham's victory over Wilson set up a tantalising last eight clash against Shaun Murphy, the man he beat to achieve his dream of becoming a world champion in 2015.
The 46-year-old has not won a title since his Masters triumph in 2020, but looks back in top form as he bids for a third Triple Crown trophy after a quiet start to the season.
