On the 25th local time, seven-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Welsh qualifier Jackson Page 10-1 in a match in the first round of the 2024 World Snooker Championship and entered the round of 16.
After O'Sullivan reached the top in the British Championship and the Masters, he has won the other three major championships of snooker this season, and he is close to winning the World Championships
The 48-year-old is aiming to win his eighth title and break Stephen Hendry's record of seven titles at Crucible in the 80s. At the start of the first round on the 25th, he was well ahead of his 22-year-old opponent with an 8-1 advantage. After the game resumed, O'Sullivan broke 79 points in a single stroke to keep him just one game away from promotion, and he sealed the victory of the whole game soon after.
O'Sullivan is chasing a record-breaking eighth World Championship title
O'Sullivan will face another Welsh player, Ryan Day, in the second round, who defeated 15th seed Barry Hawkins 10-8 local time on Wednesday night. O'Sullivan's 10-1 score in the first round is also the largest margin in this World Championships, and only Kyren Wilson, who also defeated Dominic Dale 10-1, can compete with him.
Is the first of the three snooker 75 heroes to retire is Higgins (middle).
Will this be Higgins' 'last dance' at Crucible? Four-time world champion and 48-year-old Higgins battled to temporarily lead Jamie Jones 5-4 in the first stage of the first round and need a win to reach the round of 16. There has been speculation that the 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011 world champion will retire if he misses the round of 16 at the tournament. Higgins previously told BBC Sport that he would "assess" his future after the game.
If Higgins loses, it will set a record for the most seeded players eliminated in the first round of the World Championships. Eight of the top 16 seeds at the tournament (Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Anda Zhang and Barry Hawkins) have all lost, the same as the eight seeds in the 1980, 1992 and 2012 World Championships who all fell in the first round.