Ronnie O’Sullivan had to settle for a single-frame overnight advantage as the opening session of his world championship first-round encounter with his old foe Ali Carter failed to live up to its pre-match hype.
The seven-time champion, returning to the tour for the first time since dumping his cue after losing a Championship League match in January, appeared to have scraped out a 6-3 lead to take into Wednesday afternoon’s scheduled conclusion. However, Carter dug deep after O’Sullivan missed a long red to the top corner in the final frame of the day, gradually reeling in a 51-point deficit and nervelessly clearing the colours to cut his deficit to 5-4.
Before Carter’s impressive recovery, respective breaks of 107 from both men had proved the highlights of an error-strewn affair. The sluggish display on the table was mirrored by relative serenity off it as the pair, who have engaged in a long-running and highly publicised feud over the course of their respective careers, shared a warm handshake before the opening frame.
O’Sullivan and Carter barged shoulders during Carter’s 13-9 win in the second round in 2018 and recriminations flew after O’Sullivan’s Masters final win last year, with Carter accusing his rival of “snotting” all over the floor and O’Sullivan responding by saying Carter should “get a life”.
After sharing the first two frames on Tuesday, O’Sullivan took the third when Carter failed to punish him for leaving a red dangling over the pocket – O’Sullivan’s subsequent century then put him in command at 3-1.
Carter once again reduced the deficit but missed the simplest of straight reds on a break of 60 in the sixth and allowed O’Sullivan to clear up and regain his two-frame lead.
For all his evident rustiness, O’Sullivan was clearly still capable of keeping a misfiring Carter at bay and a knock of 85 in the next sent him three frames clear. However, Carter responded with a 107 of his own then seized his chance in the final frame of the day with a fine clearance.
“I didn’t really expect much today,” O’Sullivan told TNT Sports. “I thought if I could get a few frames off Ali and make it a little bit competitive, I’d be happy with that.”
Asked about some wayward shots, he said: “I’ve had four years of it to be honest with you, hitting the ball all over the place. I’ve just got to try and tried to stay in the moment and play my way through it.”
Judd Trump made steady progress towards the second round after establishing a 6-3 overnight lead against China’s Zhou Yuelong. The world No 1, still anxious to add to his solitary 2019 title, threatened to overwhelm his opponent as he fired a break of 117 en route to a 5-1 lead.
But the 35-year-old was dragged into a more attritional affair later in the session and Zhou was rewarded for an attacking start to the last frame with a break of 95 to give him a glimmer of hope ahead of Wednesday night’s conclusion.
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Ding Junhui was made to work overtime by the qualifier Zak Surety before booking a place in round two for the first time in five years with a 10-7 win. Ding, the 2016 finalist, had threatened to blow a rattled Surety off the table in Monday’s opening session, winning the first four frames and probably counting himself unfortunate to lead only 6-2 overnight.
It was a different story on Tuesday as Surety reeled off four centuries in the opening five frames to become the first player to hit four hundreds on his Crucible debut. That helped him to narrow the deficit to 7-6 and then 8-7 before the Chinese player’s experience told and consecutive breaks of 116 and 75 took him through.
Ding’s compatriot Si Jiahui, a surprise semi-finalist two years ago, repelled back-to-back centuries from David Gilbert to turn a 6-3 overnight lead into a 10-6 win.
Shaun Murphy made a strong start to his attempt to win a second world title 20 years after his first as some heavy scoring secured a commanding 7-2 lead against Daniel Wells. Murphy and the debutant Wells each made two centuries in a high-quality session but a run of four frames in a row proved the difference as the Masters champion flexed his muscles.
Zhang Anda leads his Chinese compatriot Pang Junxu 5-3 after winning the final two frames of their opening session.
