World Snooker Championship: Ronnie O'Sullivan on brink of second ...
Ronnie O'Sullivan took full control of his first-round match against Jackson Page at the World Snooker Championship as he began his quest for a record eighth title in dominant style on Wednesday.
But Ding Junhui's hopes are already over for another year after the 2016 finalist suffered his fourth successive first-round knockout at the Crucible by losing a final-frame decider in a 9-10 thriller against Jack Lisowski.
O'Sullivan though is already on the brink of the second round after dropping just one frame to open up a 8-1 lead over Welshman Page in the best of 19-frame opening round.
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Making his second appearance at the Crucible, the 22-year-old Page had plenty of early chances but careless errors cost him dear and he looked in real danger of losing the session to whitewash until he crafted a superb break of 142 in the seventh frame to clinch his only success of the day in style.
Otherwise it was business as usual for O'Sullivan, who has seemed much more at ease with the challenge of negotiating another 17-day marathon this year and started accordingly as he stifled any attempt by Page to establish momentum.
Image: O'Sullivan surged into a 6-0 lead before Page pulled one frame back
Spurning early opportunities in both openers, Page paved the way for O'Sullivan to grab an early lead and a careless missed brown to the middle handed the world number one another simple opportunity to move further in front.
O'Sullivan took the next two either side of the mid-session interval before Page belatedly showed signs of rallying in the sixth, carving a gutsy 23 on the back of a long red but ultimately running out of position and once again letting the favourite sweep up.
Image: Qualifier Jackson Page is making just his second appearance at the Crucible
Page got a cheer for his seventh-frame clearance, which equalled the highest break so far at the Crucible this year, but it was clearly too little, too late and O'Sullivan duly took the next two to leave him two frames away from a place in the second round.
In Wednesday's morning session, Kyren Wilson, the 2020 finalist, missed out on another Crucible maximum but completed a comprehensive win over Dominic Dale to book his place in the second round.
Wilson potted 11 reds and blacks in the final frame but ran short on a mid-range red as he aimed to repeat the 147 he had fashioned against Ryan Day at the same stage last year.
Image: Kyren Wilson celebrates his emphatic first-round triumph
Nevertheless, the 32-year-old won the two frames required on Wednesday morning to wrap up a 10-1 win, the most comprehensive victory at the Crucible since Mark Selby's win over Kurt Maflin by the same score in 2021.
It marked a welcome return to form for Wilson, who has failed to reach a tour final this season and candidly admitted to off-field struggles involving illnesses to his wife and son.
Dale, at 52 the oldest qualifier since Steve Davis in 2010, was no match for the 12th seed, although he did compile an impressive 120 clearance in the fourth frame of the match.
Wilson, who moves on to a second-round meeting with Mark Selby's conqueror Joe O'Connor, compiled half-centuries or better in all but one of his winning frames, including a break of 123 in the fifth frame.
What else happened on Wednesday?Mark Allen made hard work of grinding out a 10-6 win over another qualifier, Robbie Williams, having started their final session 7-2 in front.
The fourth seed, who reached the semi-finals for the first time last year, lost the first two frames of the day and struggled to establish much momentum in the face of a game effort from Williams, before a break of 114 belatedly got him over the line.
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Lisowski held his nerve to sink seventh seed Ding in a deciding frame and set up a last-16 meeting with former champion Stuart Bingham.
Ding is the seventh seed knocked out in round one so far.
Four-time champion John Higgins headlines Wednesday's evening session when he begins his first-round match against Jamie Jones, while Barry Hawkins and Ryan Day play to a finish.
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