Ronnie O’Sullivan off to a flyer as quest for record eighth world title begins

Ronnie O’Sullivan roared out of the blocks in his quest to become the first eight-time world champion in the modern era as he built an 8-1 lead over Jackson Page in the first session of their first round match at the Crucible.

O’Sullivan looked up for the task from the off as he fired four half-centuries plus a break of 122 in the fifth frame as he left the young Welsh qualifier next to no chance of rescuing the situation when they resume to a conclusion on Thursday.

Making his second appearance at the Crucible, the 22-year-old Page had plenty of early chances but careless errors cost him dear and he looked in real danger of losing the session to whitewash until he crafted a superb break of 142 in the seventh frame to clinch his only success of the day in style.

Otherwise it was business as usual for O’Sullivan, who has seemed much more at ease with the challenge of negotiating another 17-day marathon this year and started accordingly as he stifled any attempt by Page to establish momentum.

Spurning early opportunities in both openers, Page paved the way for O’Sullivan to grab an early lead and a careless missed brown to the middle handed the world number one another simple opportunity to move further in front.

O’Sullivan took the next two either side of the mid-session interval before Page belatedly showed signs of rallying in the sixth, carving a gutsy 23 on the back of a long red but ultimately running out of position and once again letting the favourite sweep up.

Page got a cheer for his seventh-frame clearance, which equalled the highest break so far at the Crucible this year, but it was clearly too little, too late and O’Sullivan duly took the next two to leave him two frames away from a place in the second round.