𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The World Snooker Championship rolls on with the action at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield heating up as the tournament reaches the quarter-final stage.

A number of top contenders have already fallen, including defending champion Kyren Wilson – pipped by Lei Peifan in the first round – and four-time winner Mark Selby, who was knocked out by training partner Ben Woollaston.

There have been no such problems so far, though, for a returning Ronnie O’Sullivan. The seven-time champion made a mockery of his recent period of inactivity by reeling off three centuries in five frames as he completed a 10-4 win over Ali Carter to reach the second round, and backed it up with a routine win over Pang Junxu to reach a record-extending 23rd quarter-final.

The 49-year-old decided to play at the Crucible despite admitting he was “scared to go near a snooker table” during his break from the game and feared he had lost his bottle. The first-round clash had the potential to be a grudge match, with O’Sullivan calling Carter “not a nice person” and a “f****** nightmare” following a heated Masters match last year but it was ultimately played in a good spirit.

The World Snooker Championship got underway on Saturday 19 April with the final played over two days starting on Sunday 4 May.

Results so far

Quarter-finals

John Higgins 12-13 Mark Williams

Zhao Xintong 13-5 Chris Wakelin

Judd Trump 13-8 Luca Brecel

Second round

Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-4 Pang Junxu

Luca Brecel 13-4 Ding Junhui

Si Jiahui 13-10 Ben Woollaston

Shaun Murphy 10-13 Judd Trump

Chris Wakelin 13-6 Mark Allen

Hossein Vafaei 10-13 Mark Williams

John Higgins 13-12 Xiao Guodong

Lei Peifan 10-13 Zhao Xintong

First round

Kyren Wilson (1) 9-10 Lei Peifan

Xiao Guodong (14) 10-4 Matthew Selt

Mark Williams (6) 10-8 Wu Yize

Neil Robertson (9) 8-10 Chris Wakelin

Barry Hawkins (11) 9-10 Hossein Vafaei

Jak Jones (16) 4-10 Zhao Xintong

Mark Allen (8) 10-6 Fan Zhengyi

John Higgins (3) 10-7 Joe O’Connor

Ding Junhui (10) 10-7 Zak Surety

Shaun Murphy (15) 10-4 Daniel Wells

Ronnie O’Sullivan (5) 10-4 Ali Carter

Judd Trump (2) 10-4 Zhou Yuelong

Luca Brecel (7) 10-7 Ryan Day

Mark Selby (4) 8-10 Ben Woollaston

World Snooker Championship draw and schedule in full

(All times BST)

Wednesday 30 April

Quarter-finals

19:00

Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-6 Si Jiahui – to a finish

Luca Brecel 13-8 Judd Trump – to a finish

Thursday 1 May

Semi-finals

13:00

Zhao Xintong v Ronnie O’Sullivan/Si Jiahui

19:00

Mark Williams v Judd Trump

Friday 2 May

Semi-finals

10:00

Zhao Xintong v Ronnie O’Sullivan/Si Jiahui

14:30

Mark Williams v Judd Trump

19:00

Zhao Xintong v Ronnie O’Sullivan/Si Jiahui

Saturday 3 May

Semi-finals

Sunday 4 May

Final

Monday 5 May

Final