Ronnie O’Sullivan started with a rare Crucible mis-step but still emerged with a 7-2 lead after the opening session of his first-round match against China’s He Guoqiang at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
Heading out for his 34th-consecutive appearance in the event, the 50-year-old accidentally headed towards the wrong table and had to be steered in the right direction by a subtle nudge from referee Rob Spencer.
O’Sullivan did not need to be at his best against the plainly-nervous debutant, who dumped out Jack Lisowski is the last round of qualifying, but still had pundits leafing through the Crucible record books after cruising into an early 5-0 lead.
His quest for a record-breaking eighth modern era title looked unlikely to be derailed at the first stage as breaks of 72 and 97 got him off the blocks and his opening century – in the fourth frame – consolidated his advantage.
But He, who had actually beaten O’Sullivan in two of their three previous meetings, was not without chances and his failure to take them led to fears he could fall victim to only the third first-round whitewash in Crucible history.
The last player to suffer the indignity of a 10-0 loss was He’s compatriot Lyu Honghao, who won only 89 points against Shaun Murphy in 2019.
The only other whitewash was recorded by John Parrott over Eddie Charlton in 1992.
The 25-year-old avoided joining that exclusive list when he belatedly settled in the sixth frame, seizing his chance after O’Sullivan missed a simple red, doubling a red to the middle and knocking in a long green and brown in succession to relieve some of the pressure.
Suddenly playing with a little more freedom, He reeled off a break of 77 in the next to further reduce the deficit.
But He could not build on another early chance in the eighth, which O’Sullivan took with a break of 52, before completing the session with a coolly-taken break of 86.
O’Sullivan will return on Tuesday afternoon, bidding to win the three frames required to seal his place in round two and a titanic meeting with fellow ‘Class of 92’ member and four-time winner John Higgins.
O’Sullivan arrived at the Crucible with plenty of questions to answer having played only sporadically in ranking events again this season, and yet having managed to make more history by recording a 153 break in the World Open in Yushan in March.
Reportedly jetting in and out of Sheffield from a temporary base in Ireland for the duration of the tournament, O’Sullivan imposed a media blackout and was criticised for failing to show up for the pre-event media day at the Crucible on Friday.
