O'Sullivan into quarter-finals with commanding victory over Day

Ronnie O’Sullivan continued his charge to become the eight-time king of the Crucible as he wrapped up a 13-7 victory over Ryan Day in round two of the 2024 World Snooker Championship.

A cagey opening in Monday afternoon’s session eventually led to the Welshman squandering a simple safety shot thanks to a double-kiss, and it looked as though his esteemed opponent would be allowed to pounce.

But as the break reached 22, he missed a red, and Day capitalised by swerving the black and picking up the leftovers. O’Sullivan gifted the underdog another pot moments later, and the failure to exploit mistakes continued to swing back-and-forth until the superstar missed a long green at 35-14 up.

Day didn’t let that one slip, clearing the reds and moving 22 ahead. But after a series of safeties on the colours, Day again suffered a double-kiss and was ruthlessly punished, as O’Sullivan rattled in from the yellow onwards.

O’Sullivan would not make such a meal of the penultimate frame. He surged into a break of 42, with his final red being a superb effort off two cushions into the middle pocket. One failed safety from Day and the English icon was back in business, and his second break saw the frame end in a 127-point shutout.

An early missed red from O’Sullivan in the next frame rocked the jaws of the pocket and the table looked so well set up for a shot at a maximum. Yet after a break of just 16, Day put too much elbow grease into a simple single.

But again O’Sullivan didn’t capitalise, with a kick while using the rest seeing his visit end on five points, and the man on the brink of elimination went on to build a lead of 48. Following a bout of safeties, Day was allowed back in and held his nerve to win a seventh frame.

Day’s lingering hopes of making the last eight for the first time since 2011/12, or even making the mid-session interval, were then brutally extinguished. O’Sullivan was forced to wait several minutes for the first pot of frame No. 20, but once it came, he moved north up the table to put the displaced blue away, and never looked back.

A man who has been typically accused of playing in second or third gear over the last 24 hours cruised into a break of 67, and then after a mere few seconds out of the chair for Day, speedily sunk a further 53 to clinch the game.

‘The Rocket’ is now into a 22nd quarter-final, as he sits three victories away from breaking the tie with Stephen Hendry for seven trophy lifts in Sheffield. He’ll face either Jack Lisowski or Stuart Bingham in the next round.