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Ronnie O'Sullivan already edging closer to round two at the Crucible after starting up 8-1 lead over Jackson Page. The two will return to complete the match at 1pm on Thursday. Meanwhile, Ding Junhui loses 9-10 in a Jack Lisowski thriller while Mark Allen progresses.
Ronnie O'Sullivan took full control of his first-round match against Jackson Page at the World Snooker Championship as he began his quest for a record eighth title in dominant style on Wednesday.
But Ding Junhui's hopes are already over for another year after the 2016 finalist suffered his fourth successive first-round knockout at the Crucible by losing a final-frame decider in a 9-10 thriller against Jack Lisowski.
O'Sullivan though is already on the brink of the second round after dropping just one frame to open up a 8-1 lead over Page in the best of 19-frame opening round.
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, from 1pm.
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 favorite sweep up.
Lewis Musonye
