Ronnie O'Sullivan made a strong start in his Halo World Championship quarter-final clash with Si Jiahui, moving 6-2 up after the opening session at the Crucible.
The Rocket hasn't hit top gear so far, but is still finding his stride after missing the majority of events this season. He hasn't appeared in a ranking event since the UK Championship before Christmas.
Despite that, seven-time Crucible king O'Sullivan is yet to be tested here in Sheffield. The opening round saw him brush aside bitter rival Ali Carter 10-4, while he beat Pang Junxu 13-4 in the last 16. Si defeated David Gilbert in 10-6 in round one and Ben Woollaston 13-10 in round two.
O'Sullivan took a tightly contested opener this afternoon, before Si replied with a run of exactly 100 in the second to restore parity at 1-1. From there, it was 49-year-old O'Sullivan who took control. The 41-time ranking event winner hammered home breaks of 71, 54 and 87 on his way to a 4-1 advantage.
China's Si replied by taking the sixth and moved 52-0 up in the seventh, but crucially broke down. That was punished with 67 from O'Sullivan to make it 5-2. The Englishman ended the afternoon with a break of 121 to end 6-2 up. They return for the second of three sessions in this best of 25 encounter tomorrow morning from 10am.
On the other table, 2019 World Champion Judd Trump leads Luca Brecel 5-3 after a high quality opening session in their blockbuster quarter-final showdown.
World number one Trump overcame Shaun Murphy 13-10 in a pulsating second round clash, while 2023 World Champion Brecel put on one of the performances of the tournament so far to beat Ding Junhui 13-4.
The first two frames this afternoon were shared, before Trump took the third on the black to lead 2-1. That initiated a run of 347 unanswered points, with breaks of 106, 110 and 87, to lead 5-1. Trump has now made 102 century breaks this season, he's one behind the record of 103 set by Neil Robertson in 2014.
World number seven Brecel rallied and breaks of 68 and 128 gave him the last two frames of the session to remain in touch at 5-3. They return tomorrow afternoon from 2:30pm.