He Guoqiang floats in a very nice long red to finish on the black.

Big chance to make inroads on that 42-point deficit. The kind of chance he simply has to take to stand a sniff in this match.

A rare bad miss on a red from O'Sullivan.

But he's got away with it as the red runs safe and He Guoqiang is left with nothing but a safety shot. Oh and he's 42 points behind.

Has he, folks? Hit the thumbs...

The problem for He Guoqiang is that Ronnie O'Sullivan isn't even being made to work for these opportunities.

The black is tied up a tad here... oh it was.

Not now, a smart positional shot from 'The Rocket' frees it up and this spells trouble for an opponent half his age.

Dennis Taylor
1985 world champion on BBC Two

What an opening four frames from Ronnie O'Sullivan. They didn't last very long and were very fluent. The interval can sometimes change things around, but not if you make mistakes like He Guoqiang is doing. You cannot afford that against the seven-time world champion.

Dear, dear.

No immediate change of fortunes for He Guoqiang who butchers a fairly routine safety shot to leave Ronnie among the reds, again.

Domination.

Does He Guoqiang have an answer? Does anyone?

Nine matches complete - nine seeds through, and in comfortable fashion in many instances.

In four other games, the seeds are leading too - albeit 5-4 in three of them.

Could we really see all of the top 16 go through - and all of the qualifiers knocked out in the first round?

Hit the thumbs - up for yes, down for no.

• Zhao Xintong (1) 10-7 Liam Highfield
• Mark Allen (14) 10-6 Zhang Anda
• Barry Hawkins (11) 10-4 Matthew Stevens
• Mark Williams (6) 10-4 Antoni Kowalsk
• Xiao Guodong (9) 10-6 Zhou Yuelong
• Ding Junhui (16) 10-5 David Gilbert
• John Higgins (5) 10-7 Ali Carter
• Kyren Wilson (3) 10-7 Stan Moody
• Wu Yize (10) 10-2 Lei Peifan

Image source, Getty Images

• 2001 - at his ninth attempt, finally captures an elusive first Crucible crown by beating fellow 'Class of '92' legend John Higgins
• 2004 - hammers Graeme Dott 18-8 in one of most one-sided finals in World Championship history to claim second title
• 2008 - beats Ali Carter, also 18-8, having hit a 147 - his second Crucible maximum, after the record-setting 5mins 8secs effort 11 years earlier, on his way to the final
• 2012 - overcomes Carter again to claim world title number four
• 2013 - despite taking the whole season off, O'Sullivan returns to the Crucible to defend his title, defeating Barry Hawkins in the final
• 2020 - another 18-8 win, this time over Kyren Wilson, in a tournament delayed three months by the Covid outbreak and mostly played behind closed doors
• 2022 - beats Judd Trump 18-13 in a high-quality final to equal Stephen Hendry's record of seven Crucible crowns - but will there be an eighth?

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Getty Images

In 2001, Ronnie O'Sullivan won his first World Snooker Championship. Now, a quarter of a century later, he is aiming for a record-breaking eighth title.

The 50-year-old has lifted the trophy seven times, a feat only matched by Stephen Hendry in the 1990s, with no-one in the modern era having more success.

O'Sullivan already holds numerous snooker records, including being the oldest Crucible final winner following his most recent success in 2022, aged 46.

But even after having reached his own half-century, the player dubbed the Rocket is still blasting to new heights.

Last month at the World Open in China he made a break of 153, the highest ever recorded in professional snooker, after benefiting from an early snooker that left him a free ball, which then acted like a 16th red.

He reached the final of that tournament, and Shaun Murphy, who lost 5-3 to O'Sullivan in the last 16, was impressed with how he performed.

"He has not been at his brilliant best this season, but when he gets in and in flow he is still as good as ever," Murphy said.

"It would be great for snooker if he did get to eight and great for him - it's a story everyone wants to write and it would be an incredible achievement.

"But he is running out of time so he needs to do it sooner than later, but it's Ronnie O'Sullivan so you wouldn't put anything past him."

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion on BBC Two

His opponent is not doing anything to affect him but Ronnie is playing really well.

He's being allowed to play but you've still got to do it. As usual his cue ball control is exemplary.

Ronnie O'Sullivan disposes of the last four reds in a bit of a blur. A century break looked tricky but he's made it appear so so easy.

It eventually comes to an end on 113 when the yellow stops on the edge of the corner pocket. Not that the crowd seem to care.

O'Sullivan packs up his cue into its box and then heads off for the mid-session interval.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is skipping round the table. He continues to milk the black as his break heads beyond 75 with four reds remaining.

Ken Doherty
1997 world champion on BBC Two

Ronnie is making the game look very, very easy at the moment.

We questioned what form he was in, if he was rusty.

He's certainly not rusty, this is Ronnie O'Sullivan at his ultimate best.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible

Image source, Michael Emons

Before this match started, Ronnie O'Sullivan was trying to convince us he was not in good form and should be called 'Rusty Ron'.

Who was he kidding?

Just over an hour in and he's raced into a 3-0 lead, helped by excellent breaks of 72 and 97 to leave Chinese debutant He Guoqiang already with an uphill task.

After that third frame there is a big cheer in the arena as the dividing barrier is lifted up, meaning the whole theatre can watch Rocket Ronnie, not Rusty Ronnie, in action.

That comes after China's hugely-talented 22-year-old Wu Yize destroyed compatriot Lei Peifan 10-2, securing the biggest win of the tournament so far.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is he first to attack in the fourth frame, with the pack opened up but struggling get the black and pink into play.

However, a bit of Ronnie genius sees him cut the black into the middle pocket and then goes about building another sizable break. He's 36 and counting.

The stats don't actually look that one-sided.

But the difference was that Wu Yize was clinical, ruthless with his chances.

The screen goes up following the conclusion of Wu Yize v Lei Peifan which allows Ronnie O'Sullivan to get the Crucible all to himself.

Safety exchanges early in the fourth frame. Will He Guoqiang take a bit of risk to spark himself into life?

Here's how Wu Yize finished off that statement win against Lei Peifan.