World Snooker Championship: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Ryan Day to move into last eight

Ronnie O'Sullivan, who has won the championship seven times in the past, advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Championship with a stress-free triumph of 13-7 against Ryan Day.

After being ahead 10-6 the night before, O'Sullivan won three out of the first four games in the afternoon to secure the win before the scheduled break.

'The Rocket' is striving to set a new record by winning his eighth title in the current era, a feat he achieved after tying with Stephen Hendry's seven in 2022.

He will now compete against either Jack Lisowski or Stuart Bingham, who won in 2015, in the quarterfinals.

In the meantime, Kyren Wilson progressed to the next round by defeating new player Joe O'Connor with a score of 13-6.

Wilson, who was once a finalist, had a lead of 10-6 when the game resumed. He then won three consecutive frames to secure his place in the next round where he will face either Mark Allen or John Higgins.

After easily defeating Jackson Page with a score of 10-1 in the opening round, O'Sullivan smoothly advanced further in the elite snooker tournament against Day.

O'Sullivan informed BBC Sport that if he had not been as restrictive or precise in certain situations, the opponent may have had more success at particular times.

"I was happy to be able to prevent certain situations from escalating and take advantage of any opportunities I had to make a difference."

Following a successful start in the initial two rounds of their 25-game competition, competing with a rival whom he has defeated for the past 13 years, O'Sullivan seemed at ease when the game resumed.

As he jovially played his turn in the 17th frame, he connected with a fervent supporter who was also participating in the game. This moment emphasized his glee.

Even though O'Sullivan allowed Wales' Day chances to catch up during the game, he still remained mostly unchallenged. Despite this, O'Sullivan has reached out to coach Nic Barrow for assistance.

In the 20th game, the English player scored 85 and 67 points, leading to an early end to the match. He hopes to become the first player in his career to win all three of snooker's most prestigious tournaments in the same season.

In the beginning, I am experimenting with a fresh approach to playing and changing the way I hit the ball to avoid experiencing "yips," which is what I refer to as a more straightforward means of describing it, according to his statement.

For a couple of years, I've been putting in a lot of effort but eventually realized that I couldn't keep going like that. Hence, I had to bring some modifications to my routine. My physical and mental well-being are in a state of equilibrium now, but there is still room for improvement. It's like a puzzle, and I'm striving to solve it.

Wilson, who was defeated by O’Sullivan in last year's final, aims to finish his lackluster season strongly and it seems that he is getting back to his top performance.

Even though Wilson had been defeated at this stage in the past two years, he has performed well overall at the Crucible. He had no trouble beating O'Connor, whom he had practiced with before the tournament.

My primary goal was to secure a victory, but I believed that I had more to contribute. It seemed to me that I was only utilizing a substandard performance, which is a significant advantage," he expressed.

I have improved significantly as a player compared to last year, as evidenced by my scoring statistics. However, I made the mistake of making too many adjustments to my game. My decision to use a new glove ended up adversely affecting my performance for half the season.

As soon as the year changed, I began to notice an improvement in my results, indicating that my performance was up to par.