Ronnie O'Sullivan finds form to fly past Ali Carter in World Championship opener
Ronnie O'Sullivan hit his stride and surged into the second round of the World Snooker Championship thanks to a 10-4 win over Ali Carter.
The first session on Tuesday was a struggle for both players and there was little between them as it finished 5-4 in the Rocket's favour.
O'Sullivan had not played competitively since January and Carter was dealing with a neck problem, so there were reasons for both being a long way from their best.
Overnight the situation changed for one but not the other as the Captain continued to be well below par, while the seven-time world champion found his rhythm.
Breaks of 59, 117, 74 and 123 from O'Sullivan saw him go to the mid-session interval 9-4 ahead in no time at all and one frame from victory.
The 49-year-old secured that frame as soon as he returned from the interval to make a break of 131 and picked up a heavy win over his old rival to progress to the last 16.
Carter's winless run at the Crucible continues, with the last time he won a match at the Sheffield theatre back in 2019.
Waiting for O'Sullivan in the last 16 is Pang Junxu after he beat his Chinese compatriot Zhang Anda 10-7 in his first contest.
Pang and O'Sullivan met in the opening round of the 2023 World Championship, with the Rocket emerging a 10-7 winner.
However, the 25-year-old has picked up two wins over O'Sullivan in his short career so far, most recently at this season's International Championship when he played brilliantly to win 6-4.
The performance in Wednesday's second session will be very encouraging for O'Sullivan fans as he really did look impressive, fluent and confident again. More Trending
He arrived at the Crucible playing down expectations, but they will surge again after a dominant five frames to power to victory and set up a second round match for which he will be the heavy favourite.
Mark Allen in the BBC studio said: 'We can talk all day about some of the mistakes Ali made but you just have to hold your hands up sometimes and say that is ridiculous snooker from Ronnie O'Sullivan.
'You can't play any better than that. What was a close match 90 minutes ago turned into a comfortable win.'
More to follow…
MORE: John Higgins can roll back the years to claim another world snooker title at The Crucible
MORE: Luca Brecel names his three favourite snooker players to watch
MORE: Shaun Murphy rates his World Snooker Championship chances after 'intimidating' opening win
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
BBC lose full coverage of Wimbledon with new TV channel to also show tournament
The BBC have broadcast Wimbledon in the UK exclusively for the past 88 years, but that monopoly will come to an end this year with TNT Sports getting in on the action The BBC no longer has exclusive rights to broadcast Wimbledon in the UK as TNT Sports will also air the singles finals for the first time. For the past 88 years, the BBC has exclusively shown the prestigious Grand Slam. Wimbledon begins on June 30, with the men's singles final concluding the tournament on July 13. Following his epic victory over Jannik Sinner in an unforgettable French Open on Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz is aiming for a third consecutive win at Wimbledon. Last year, a peak audience of 7.5 million tuned into BBC One to watch Alcaraz triumph over Novak Djokovic in the final, with the match also streamed live 1.78 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online. Barbora Krejcikova defeated Jasmine Paolin in the ladies' singles final last year. The match had a peak viewership of 4.1 million on BBC One and was also streamed live 1.34 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online. Despite this change, the BBC still holds the majority of the rights this year due to the tournament being classified as a Category A event by Ofcom. This means that live coverage must be provided on free-to-air channels. However, this rule also permits paid networks to share live coverage, provided it continues to be broadcast on terrestrial television. This has enabled TNT Sports to take over Eurosport's deal to show the finals for the first time. Eurosport bosses sealed a five-year agreement with the All England Club last year, only to be taken over by TNT. The subscription channel will exclusively air the finals, while the BBC retains the exclusive rights to broadcast all other matches. The Beeb is set to deliver extensive Wimbledon coverage across its primary channels, with every game also available on iPlayer. Additional content will be available through radio, online platforms, and the BBC Sport app. While the presenting team has yet to be announced, it has been rumoured that two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray could join as a commentator. His time as Djokovic's coach has ended, meaning Murray might step into a broadcasting position for the tournament. Murray previously took to the commentary box in 2018 after a hip operation. Meanwhile, Djokovic aims to match Federer's record of eight Wimbledon wins. In a fresh move for this year's event, the BBC plans to reduce the lag between the Freeview broadcast of BBC Two and the iPlayer stream. A trial during Wimbledon will offer select iPlayer beta testers a low latency version of the BBC Two live feed. This is intended to minimise the delay. The experiment was detailed in a BBC blog post, outlining the broadcaster's efforts to "assess how well low latency streaming approaches perform over today's internet into our viewers' homes."
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Listen to In Conversation with Clive Eakin
BBC Radio CWR's Coventry City commentator Clive Eakin is hanging up his headset after 24 Eakin as he reflects back on a long career as the voice of the Sky Blues at 18:00 BST on BBC Radio CWR or online with BBC Sounds on to miss it? Don't panic. The episode will be available shortly after broadcast right here on the BBC website.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
O'Neill still hunting for NI's starting striker
International Friendly: Northern Ireland v IcelandVenue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Tuesday, 10 June Kick-off: 19:45 BSTCoverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two NI, listen on BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill says he is waiting for one of the strikers in his squad to nail down the starting role, but added his team is "pretty settled" ahead of the World Cup Town striker Dion Charles started in the 2-1 defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen on Saturday, with fellow forwards Callum Marshall and Paul Smyth coming off the strikers such as Lee Bonis, Dale Taylor and the uncapped Ronan Hale were all unused substitutes and O'Neill believes it is one of the problem areas in his squad before Tuesday's friendly against Iceland."We're still looking for maybe that striker to put their hand up and say, 'I'm the player that should be starting,'" he told BBC Sport NI."The lads we have those in positions are all playing at a similar level, sort of League One level in England and SPL level in Scotland. "They've all scored goals this season, a lot of them have got to double figures but the jump up to play against top international defenders is a big jump so that's probably one of the positions we maybe need to nail down, but I think across the team in other areas we're pretty settled." NI must 'develop the team we have' against Iceland O'Neill confirmed that goalkeeper Stephen McMullan, who is on loan at Waterford from Fleetwood Town, has been called up to replace the injured Conor Hazard ahead of the Iceland game. The NI boss said that he knows his "strongest team" but must strike a balance in team selection on Tuesday as he also wants to cast his eye over some fringe players in the friendly is NI's last game before September's away double-header against Luxembourg and Germany in 2026 World Cup qualifying. "Rarely do you get your strongest team on the pitch so it's important to utilise the squad," O'Neill continued."We still have players that need to make that step up, they've been good when they've come in, but they haven't had the exposure minutes wise we could have given them, but we also have to develop the team we have."The team we pick [against Iceland] will be picked to try and win the game and to look forward to the games when they start in September."Iceland beat Scotland 3-1 at Hampden Park on Friday and O'Neill hopes the fixture will allow NI to address their shortcomings in attack that were evident against Denmark."They have got a new coach [Arnar Gunnlaugsson] and he's only been in for three games and that Scotland game was a great result for him and they have some very good players who play at a good level across Europe so I think in terms of possession it will be a more evenly matched game," O'Neill said."We know we need to improve when we have the ball, so this is an opportunity for us to do that."
