Sheffield (Agencies): Ronnie O’Sullivan’s quest for a seventh World Championship title is in danger of ending in the second round after a sensational display by Anthony McGill saw the Scot build a shock 10-6 lead.
McGill, the world number 16, played near flawless snooker as breaks of 71, 126 and 89 helped win the first four frames of session two to go 8-4 up. The defending champion, 45, stopped a seven-frame burst with a break of 92.
But a ton and half-century put McGill on top in the best-of-25-frame match It will resume at 19:00 BST on Friday and be played to a finish. Two-time ranking event winner McGill was a Crucible semi-finalist last year and produced that level of play again to dominate the world number two, who nodded approvingly at his opponent’s quality and composure.
O’Sullivan lost three frames in a row in surrendering a first-session lead on Thursday and his poor run continued as the first four quickly slipped from his grasp on the resumption.
And although the next four frames were shared, McGill, 30, needs just three more for victory in Friday evening’s final session to set up a quarter-final meeting with either 2015 champion Stuart Bingham or Welsh qualifier Jamie Jones.
The other morning match saw world number six Kyren Wilson and world number 11 Barry Hawkins finish level at 4-4 at the end of the opening session of their second-round meeting. They will play session two on Friday evening before finishing their match on Saturday afternoon.
The afternoon action
Scotland’s four-time world champion John Higgins and Mark Williams begin their second-round match, which is a re-run of the epic 2018 World Championship final that the Welshman won to earn his third Crucible crown.
The other match sees 2010 champion Neil Robertson resume 5-3 up against world number 14 Jack Lisowski in the second of their three scheduled sessions.
