Ronnie O'Sullivan seized control of his second-round match against John Higgins at the World Snooker Championship, establishing a commanding 6-2 overnight lead in Sheffield. The seven-time champion produced a stunning 137 total clearance as he outclassed his old rival, moving closer to a record eighth Crucible title.
Former champion and BBC pundit John Parrott hailed O'Sullivan's performance, describing him as 'pretty evil' among the balls. 'Tomorrow is another day and John knows he is well capable of beating Ronnie 6-2,' Parrott said. 'But John is going to have to find his top game because it doesn’t look like Ronnie is going to dip any time soon.'
O'Sullivan dominated the session with breaks of 86, 82, 137 and 92, leaving Higgins grateful to be only four frames behind. The Scot managed to win the sixth frame but O'Sullivan sealed the final two frames to take control ahead of Sunday evening's resumption.
Elsewhere, Mark Allen recovered from a 5-0 deficit to beat Kyren Wilson 13-9 and reach the quarter-finals. Allen then launched an extraordinary attack on seven-time champion Stephen Hendry, who had criticised his shot selection. 'Stephen’s entitled to his opinion, but more often than not, he’s full of rubbish,' Allen said. 'Not everyone can come here and make it look as easy as he did.'
Barry Hawkins defeated Mark Williams 13-9 to reach his first Crucible quarter-final in eight years, while Hossein Vafaei held world No. 1 Judd Trump to a 4-4 draw after the first session of their clash. Defending champion Zhao Xintong leads Ding Junhui 9-7, and Neil Robertson is level at 4-4 with Chris Wakelin.
