Ronnie O’Sullivan breezed past Jackson Page in round one (Picture: Getty Images)
Ronnie O’Sullivan made short work of Jackson Page in the opening round of the World Snooker Championship, beating the 22-year-old 10-1 at the Crucible.
The Rocket was not even really at his blistering best for much of the match, but was still knocking in big breaks on a regular basis.
The world number one knocked in efforts of 54, 56, 81, 122, 66, 53 and 79 on his way to the comfortable victory, finishing with a 94 per cent pot success rate.
Page, to his credit, did show off his own scoring form in the one frame he won, making a huge break of 142 in the seventh frame.
That was the only moment of success for the Welshman, though, who will hopefully take some useful lessons away from sharing the table with the greatest player in the sport.
‘Played well, cued well, which is good,’ said O’Sullivan. ‘Jackson’s a really good player, I knew I had to be on my game, one of the hardest first round draws I could have got. Pleased with my performance.’
Next up for O’Sullivan is Ryan Day after a 10-8 win over Barry Hawkins on Wednesday night, his first victory at the Crucible for 10 years.
Page was blown away by the Rocket (Picture: Getty Images)
Dynamite made one ton and six half-centuries, winning the last five frames of the match to come from behind and pick up a huge victory.
Remarkably, O’Sullivan is already the only seeded player left in his quarter of the draw, with Hawkins, Ding Junhui and Gary Wilson all beaten in the opening round.
Ding was edged out 10-9 by Jack Lisowski, while Wilson lost 10-5 to Stuart Bingham in a nightmare opening round for the seeded players.
Mark Williams was also downed by Si Jiahui, Zhang Anda beaten by Jak Jones, Mark Selby ousted by Joe O’Connor, Ali Carter losing to Stephen Maguire and defending champion Luca Brecel defeated by Dave Gilbert.
Day and O’Sullivan will play over three sessions on Sunday morning and evening and Monday afternoon.
MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan ‘not at his best’ despite dominating Jackson Page
MORE : Mark Williams reveals advice to Jackson Page for Ronnie O’Sullivan showdown
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