On April 16, Beijing time, the Snooker World Championships kicked off. World Number One Rocket O'Sullivan came on, only to face David Gilbert, and O'Sullivan was confused by his opponent and fell behind at the beginning 3-0. For O'Sullivan, this is obviously not good news, and may even be like the previous game, bursting out of the cold early.
O'Sullivan is the six-time winner of the World Championships and is arguably one of Crucible's most successful players. After the Tour Championships, O'Sullivan was once again on the world number one throne. However, O'Sullivan wants to continue to occupy the world number one after the end of the World Championships, and he needs to win the world championship at the World Championships.
O'Sullivan was met in the first round against Gilbert, currently ranked 19th in the world, arguably one of the strongest unseeded players and often in the top 16. However, O'Sullivan maintained a record of 7 wins against Gilbert, which led to widespread belief that O'Sullivan would easily win the game. But after the game began, Gilbert gave O'Sullivan three slam sticks.
In the first game, Gilbert scored 30 points first, after which the two were locked in a long defensive period. O'Sullivan scored a red ball and made an offensive mistake, and Gilbert then seized the opportunity to score 56 points to complete the run to win the first set 129-1. In the second set, Gilbert scored another 94 points and scored it easily. In the third set, O'Sullivan conceded a green ball with a 54-40 lead. Gilbert's one-shot clearance was eventually reversed 65-54, and O'Sullivan was rarely behind 3-0.
In another game, seeded Hawkins also got into trouble. Facing qualifier Page, Hawkins started 3-0. The team was fortunate in the final set, Hawkins won 79-0, chasing the score to 1-3.