Reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan endured a difficult opening session in his World Championship second round match against Joe Perry, while Australia’s Neil Robertson eased to a first round win on Thursday.
Five-time world champion O’Sullivan trailed 4-1 at the Crucible before reducing the deficit to 5-3 in his best-of-25 frame clash.
Perry was quick out of the blocks, taking the opening frame before O’Sullivan levelled.
That should have signalled O’Sullivan taking control, but Perry snatched the next two frames to go in at the mid-session interval 3-1 up.
O’Sullivan was in trouble when he lost the fifth frame, however he produced a 116 clearance to reduce the deficit to two frames.
He appeared to be finding fluency when he followed up with a decisive 75 to move to within a single frame of Perry.
However, a break of 99 from Perry checked the progress of ‘The Rocket’ and gave the 39-year-old the edge for when the match resumes on Friday.
Earlier, 2010 world champion Robertson posted the tournament’s highest break as he wrapped up a 10-2 victory in his first round match against Robbie Williams.
The world number one, who held a 7-2 overnight lead, did not take long to wrap up victory, following a clearance of 140 with a score of 102 as he booked a second round meeting with Mark Allen.
The other second round match started on Thursday saw Mark Selby establish a 5-3 lead over two-time losing finalist Ali Carter.
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