Ronnie O'Sullivan on brink of victory in World Championship second-round clash with Pang Junxu at the Crucible

Ronnie O’Sullivan made a slow start to the second session of his second-round clash with Pang Junxu at the World Championship, but went through the gears in some style later in the session to open up a convincing lead heading into the final session on Monday. Watch and stream top snooker action, including the World Championship, live and on demand on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Ronnie O’Sullivan took an iron grip of his World Championship second-round clash after resisting a fightback from Pang Junxu.

O’Sullivan went into the session with a 6-2 lead, but saw that shrink as Pang picked off the opening two frames.

‘The Rocket’ responded by taking the next two frames to share the mini-session, and knocked in back-to-back tons after the interval to take command.

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Pang wilted in the face of the pressure exerted by O'Sullivan, who won six frames on the spin to open up a 12-4 lead in the race to 13.

O’Sullivan began the first session in scrappy fashion, and it was the same in the second at The Crucible on Sunday afternoon.

Pang failed to take his chances early on in the first session, but that was not the case in the second as he picked off breaks of 87 and 62 to cut the gap to 6-4.

Taking the second frame of the session also ended any prospect of O’Sullivan wrapping the match up on Sunday, which would have handed him Monday evening off.

That would not have been at the forefront of his mind after seeing Pang make a silky start, but the seven-time winner responded with a break of 79 to get on the board in the second session.

That run was followed by a break of 80, which took a shade under five minutes, as he restored his four-frame lead in the blink of an eye.

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Jimmy White said on TNT Sports that he expected O’Sullivan to go through the gears, and those seemed wise words as he picked off the 212th century of his Crucible career, which included some dazzling pots, as he extended his lead to five frames.

Long potting was the weakest link during O’Sullivan’s first-round win over Ali Carter. At the start of the 14th frame, he drained a stunner to the left corner, and it set him on his way to a second century in as many frames as he extended his lead to 10-4.

Big breaks were the order of the day for much of the session, but the 15th was a scrappy affair - and witnessed the rare sight of referee Jan Verhaas making a mistake by replacing a ball on the wrong spot.

'It wasn't even close' - Referee replaces ball in wrong place during O'Sullivan v Pang clash

Video credit: TNT Sports

After a period of safety, Pang had a chance to stop the rot but played a weak shot on the brown and O’Sullivan picked off the colours to power on.

Pang had the chance to end the session on a high note, but played an awful positional shot when in the balls. He attempted to rescue the situation with a plant to the left middle, but it did not drop and O’Sullivan raced through a break of 62 to get within one of the finish line.

O'Sullivan and Pang will return on Monday evening to play to a finish, it could be only one frame, and you can follow the action live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

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