Snooker:Ronnie O'Sullivan made short work of Dominic Dale this afternoon as he raced through to the second round of the World Championship at the Crucible.
Despite his recent threat to pull out of the tournament, three-time former winner O’Sullivan gave a confident performance in his opener and took the three remaining frames he required with high breaks today to seal a 10-2 success.
He was helped throughout the match by Welshman Dale leaving him plenty of easy starting reds, and nobody is more ruthless than O’Sullivan when given half a chance.
The 35-year-old twice threatened maximum breaks yesterday, and did secure his 100th career Crucible century in frame eight, as Dale’s early challenge faded.
At one stage it was 2-2, but O’Sullivan pulled away and had brisk breaks of 115, 96 and 100 today to sprint through to a clash with Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion, in the second round.
There could hardly have been an easier first match of the championship for O’Sullivan, as Dale underperformed and failed to make it a real contest.
Victory was O’Sullivan’s first in a ranking tournament match since September, when he reached the World Open final, and halts a run of four straight first-round defeats in major events.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen is due to get his campaign under way from 7pm this evening against Matthew Stevens from Wales.