O’Sullivan Downs Doherty On World Seniors Snooker Debut

Ronnie O’Sullivan made a dominant start to his JenningsBet World Seniors Snooker Championship debut by defeating Ken Doherty 4-1 at the Crucible Theatre.

‘The Rocket’ claimed not to have picked up a cue since his dramatic World Championship defeat to John Higgins last month, but rarely looked threatened by the 1997 world champion as he overcame ‘The Darling of Dublin’ to secure a quarter-final berth.

Next up for the seven-times world champion is former professional Peter Lines, who shocked the 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham 4-2 to earn a dream Crucible meeting with snooker’s greatest ever player.

Elsewhere on Friday afternoon, there was more black ball drama as Craig Steadman came from 3-2 behind to defeat 1995 world finalist Nigel Bond – Bond agonisingly losing on the final ball as the result of a time foul. There was also a 4-2 victory for reigning British Seniors Open champion Joe Perry against Jersey’s Aaron Canavan.

The second round began on an eventful Thursday evening session that saw the exit of four-time World Seniors champion Jimmy White, who battled back from 2-0 behind against Rob Milkins before losing out in a black ball shootout decider.

Ali Carter, another World Seniors Championship debutant, was unexpectedly forced to work hard against Australian debutant Roger Farebrother but a break of 94 in frame six ultimately secured ‘The Captain’ a 4-2 success.

A fault with table two resulted in an unfortunate situation which saw Matthew Stevens and Dominic Dale forced to conclude their contest on table one after midnight, with Stevens coming through a 4-2 victor, while Igor Figueiredo whitewashed Alfie Burden in a match contested in a private area of the practice room due to time constraints.

The quarter-finals get underway at 7pm BST live on Channel 5 and Pluto TV. How to watch.