O'Sullivan and Selby ease into last 16 at Crucible

Ronnie O'Sullivan quickly wrapped up victory over China's He Guoqiang at the World Championship to set up a mouth-watering last-16 tie against four-time winner John Higgins.

Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan, 50, will now play another member of snooker's fabled 'Class of 92', which also includes Higgins, 50, and 51-year-old Mark Williams - after the trio turned professional in 1992.

The last-16 tie against Higgins will start on Saturday evening (19:00 BST), with further sessions scheduled for Sunday evening and Monday afternoon (13:00 BST).

O'Sullivan is aiming to win eight world titles, an achievement which would move him clear of Stephen Hendry's seven and set a new record for the modern era.

After yesterday's first session, O'Sullivan led 7-2, and - despite changing his cue - stretched that advantage with a break of 62 before potting nine reds and eight blacks at the start of the 10th frame.

But O'Sullivan - who made a break of 153 at the World Open last month, the highest break in professional snooker after a snooker left a free ball, which acted like a 16th red - then opted to play for blue instead of black.

A break of 113 took him one frame away from victory, which he sealed with another century break of 100 to clinch a 10-2 win.

Four-time winner Mark Selby also won 10-2 in his first-round match against 2024 finalist Jak Jones of Wales.

England's Selby, 42, lost in round one at the Crucible in each of the past two years, but stormed into a 6-0 lead over the 2024 runner-up, helped by breaks of 67 and 50.

Jones took a tight seventh frame, before Selby regained his six-frame advantage thanks to a break of 78, although Jones ended well with a 90 break in the session's final frame to trail 7-2.

But Selby took the first three frames of the evening session to set up a last-16 match against China's Wu Yize, which begins on Sunday (10:00 BST).

Wu is only 22 years old, but is already 10th in the world rankings and Selby thinks he can go right to the top.

"Wu Yize is great to watch, great for our game," said Selby. "He is very young, but definitely a future world champion in the making.

"I will have to play somewhere near the top of my game. He is playing well, won a tournament [the International Championship in November] and he is going to be very confident and fancy the job.

"I saw him in China, he was 13 or 14 and he was even good at that age. He has very good technique, scores very heavily."

Jones, 32, is 19th in the world, but revealed he had "been struggling to breathe" in the morning session as a result of his asthma.

"I felt absolutely shocking this morning, probably one of the worst I've felt in a match and I missed a few easy balls and it was a bit of a nightmare," said Jones

"It's not why I lost, I was terrible, I have problems with asthma, it comes and goes and tonight it was not too bad but this morning I couldn't breathe."

The World Championship has been played at the Crucible in Sheffield since 1977 but never before have all 16 seeded players advanced into the second phase.

Fifteen is the current record, set in 1983 and then matched in 1993. If Si Jiahui and Neil Robertson win, then all 16 of the qualifiers would have been eliminated in round one.

Selby's win means all 14 completed ties have been won by the seeds, although China's Si, the 15th seed, trails 6-3 after the first session against Iran's Hossein Vafaei, with that match played to a finish on Thursday (13:00 BST).

There was a bizarre moment in the second frame of the final match of the day as Neil Robertson, the 2010 world champion and world number three, conceded the second frame before it was out of reach.

The Australian led 1-0 against Pang Junxu, but missed a black and then conceded with the score at 10-57 to the Chinese player. Robertson was 47 points behind but, with three reds on the table, 51 points were still achievable.

Conceding a frame when you can still mathematically win is not allowed so referee Terry Camilleri then warned Robertson, with the Australian saying he thought he had been 57 points behind.

When the score was explained to him, Robertson said "ah, I miscalculated the score, sorry".

The incident will still cost him a mandatory £250 fine. After their first session, Robertson holds a 5-4 lead, although Pang did make a break of 122 in the last frame of the night. That match will be concluded on Thursday evening (19:00 BST).

Chris Wakelin, the 13th seed, sealed a 10-6 victory over 20-year-old English qualifer Liam Pullen.

Wakelin had led 5-4 overnight but Pullen, the world number 86 who battled through four qualifying rounds to qualify, made it 5-5 - only for Wakelin to win five frames in a row.

"I'm gutted for Liam as he is a really good friend of mine - we practice a lot and he is an incredible player," said 34-year-old Wakelin.

"A few years ago we first practiced together and he stuffed me and I thought 'what a talent'. It's a shame he didn't fully show what he is capable of but he did really well and made a good account of himself.

"I'm really proud that he has been here for the first time and every single person in that arena wanted him to win, me included. But I'm here to win and sometimes you have to be ruthless.

"I watched the draw and I didn't want to draw Stan [Moody] or Liam as they are my friends and I want them to win."

Pullen, who lost his World Snooker Tour place last May, then regained it a few weeks later at Q School, said he loved his first Crucible match.

"I really enjoyed every moment," said Pullen. "I felt at times I held my own and I thought it was a very tight 10-6. I loved it. You have got to have fun and I felt close to doing something but it didn't quite click."