Ronnie O’Sullivan seals Ali Carter rout on World Snooker Championship return

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O’Sullivan and Carter shake hands (Photo credit: Every Second Media/Alamy Live News)

Ronnie O’Sullivan romped to a 10-4 victory over rival Ali Carter on his return to competitive action at the World Snooker Championship on Wednesday.

O’Sullivan, who had not featured since January’s Championship League, reeled off five frames on the spin in a spell-binding second session display to continue his dominant head-to-head record over Carter.

The 49-year-old made three centuries in the last four frames to put the gloss on a clinical display and advance to the Last 16 at The Crucible for the 29th time.

O’Sullivan, who only confirmed his participation in the event late last week, admitted he was “scared” about returning to action, but “enjoyed” the occasion.

“I thought ‘what am I doing coming here, exposing myself, imploding out there, having a meltdown?’ All that went through my head,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport.

“I told Steve Peters that and he said ‘I’m coming – I will get you through the first match’.

“I was quite a bit scared coming and playing. It’s a daunting venue to play at anyway but it’s about getting on the bike again and playing and I’m really proud that I’ve done that.

“Even if I had lost, it didn’t really matter. I made that breakthrough. There’s still a lot of work to do.

“I couldn’t even watch myself play as I could see what was wrong. I just couldn’t correct it and every time you make a change you think ‘this is terrible’.

“This game can humble you so many times. To play one good session. It was a nice feeling and I did enjoy being out there.

“I didn’t feel too nervous because my expectation levels were maybe just to get a few frames and see where we go. I didn’t feel pressure and normally when I come here with a half-decent game I feel pressure more as it is a chance to go deep, but on this occasion I wasn’t expecting to do much.

“I’m going to give myself two years. No more exhibitions, no more distractions off the table. It might take one month, six months, a year and give it a good go. I owe it to snooker and to myself. I just have to put everything into this tournament.”

O’Sullivan had opened up a 5-2 lead in Tuesday’s first session before Carter took the last two frames to trail by one overnight, producing a high break of 107 in the process.

Seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan made a 59 break to clinch the first frame of Wednesday’s session before following in with vintage breaks of 117, 74, 123 and 131 to surge into the Second Round.

He will now face Pang Junxu in the Last 16, after the 25-year-old battled past a struggling Zhang Anda 10-7 earlier in the day to record his first win at The Crucible.

Meanwhile, 2019 World Champion Judd Trump safely secured his spot in Round Two with a routine 10-4 win over Zhou Yuelong.

Trump had established a 6-3 overnight lead and began the second session in sensational style by reeling off three consecutive centuries (113, 113 and 114) to storm to the brink of victory.

Zhou stopped the rot with a 64 break but could only delay the inevitable as Trump make his fifth century of the match and 97th of the season to seal the deal in style.

The world number one will take on Shaun Murphy in a mouth-watering Second Round tie after the 2005 World Champion swept aside Daniel Wells by the same scoreline.

Murphy led 7-2 overnight having made breaks of 100, 138, 76 and 89 on Tuesday, and he quickly added a 53 break to move further clear.

Wells, though, rallied to compile his third century of the contest (115) before following up with a 68 break to reduce the deficit to 8-4.

Masters champion Murphy, however, hit back with a majestic break of 138 before adding a 71 to storm through.

Four-time World Champion Mark Selby recovered from 4-2 down with three frames in a row to establish a narrow 5-4 lead over fellow Leicester cueist Ben Woollaston.

Woollaston made a bright start on his return to The Crucible for the first time in 12 years as he responded to a Selby century in frame one by making breaks of 84 and 76 en route to a 3-1 lead.

The duo exchanged two hard-fought frames after the interval, before Selby defied trouble with his cue tip to produce breaks of 79 and 135 to edge in front overnight.

Elsewhere, Luca Brecel hit back from 5-1 down to trail Ryan Day 5-4 going into their closing session on Thursday.

Day stormed out of the blocks with a break of 126 before adding runs of 67, 61 and 62, but a missed chance in the seventh frame gifted Brecel a scoring opportunity – which he seized to make a 104 break.

The 2023 World Champion followed up with a 54 break in frame eight, before adding an 86 in the ninth to get back to within one.

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