Baffling Vafaei breaks as Rocket takes early advantage in grudge match

Ronnie O'Sullivan shrugged off an extraordinary act of self-sabotage by opponent Hossein Vafaei to deliver a potential knockout blow in the opening session of their so-called grudge match at the World Snooker Championship.

O’Sullivan racked up his 200th Crucible century as part of a ruthless riposte to Vafaei’s pre-match barbs, while the Iranian did himself no favours by smashing the balls from his first break-off in an ill-judged reaction to perceived disrespect shown to him by O’Sullivan performing the same shot in their last meeting two years ago.

Vafaei’s blast cued up O’Sullivan to mop up with a break of 78 and the defending champion went on to fashion a 6-2 overnight advantage in their second-round clash, leaving him an opportunity to wrap up victory with a session to spare when they resume on Saturday afternoon.

The Iranian was accused of "stupidity" and "disrespecting the sport" by a shocked Steve Davis in the BBC studio, while another former world champion, Shaun Murphy, labelled Vafaei’s antics "an embarrassment" and "completely self-inflicted".

Vafaei had launched an extraordinary verbal assault on O’Sullivan in the wake of his first-round win over Ding Junhui last Sunday, alluding to an incident in their German Masters qualifying match in 2021.

The Iranian accused O’Sullivan of "disrespect" for smashing open the balls from his break-off shot in the final frame of that match, which Vafaei won 5-0. Vafaei added: "He (O’Sullivan) is such a nice person when he is asleep."

As snooker grudge matches go, it was not exactly at the level of Cliff Thorburn lamping Alex Higgins in a back room at the 1983 Irish Open, nor volatile Australian Quinten Hann offering his opponent Andy Hicks out for a post-frame fight in 2004.

But,