Ronnie O’Sullivan made a fine start to his bid to win a record-breaking eighth world title as he dominated the first session against Welsh qualifier Jackson Page.
O’Sullivan, 48, is looking to move clear of Stephen Hendry’s seven Crucible successes and holds an emphatic 8-1 lead over 22-year-old Page, the world number 43.
Breaks of 54, 56, 81, 122, 66 and 53 left O’Sullivan needing to win only two frames when the match resumes on Thursday afternoon.
Page made a break of 142 – the joint highest in the tournament so far, but scored 27 or fewer points in seven of the nine frames.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen, against Dominic Dale and Robbie Williams respectively.
England’s Jack Lisowski defeated China’s 2016 finalist Ding Junhui, winning 10-9 in a high-quality encounter to set up a second-round match against 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham.
Seventh seed Ding became the seventh seeded player to be knocked out, before 15th seed Barry Hawkins was the eighth, losing 10-8 to Ryan Day in the evening session.
Their exits come after defeats for fellow seeds Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson and Zhang Anda.
There has never been a year at the Crucible where nine seeds have lost in the first round and it has been only the fourth time – after 1980, 1992 and 2012 – where eight of the top 16 have fallen at the first hurdle.
If O’Sullivan completes an expected win over Page on Thursday then he would take on Day, who has reached the last 16 for the first time since 2014.
Source – World Snooker Championship: Ronnie O’Sullivan closing in on last 16 – BBC Sport
