Ronnie O'Sullivan in control against John Higgins at 2026 World Snooker Championship

O’Sullivan produced an impressive display as he built a four-frame advantage over his fellow ‘Class of 92’ graduate on Saturday night at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Facing each other for the seventh time on snooker’s grandest stage - with the head-to-head score locked at 3-3 - seven-time world champion O’Sullivan settled in with a break of 86 in the opening frame.

‘The Rocket’ then looked like doubling his lead with a counter attack in frame two, but having done the hard work, he missed a straightforward pink left-handed just before the colours and Higgins did the rest to level.

However, that setback didn’t seem to affect O’Sullivan, as runs of 82 and 137 put him 3-1 up at the mid-session interval.

On resumption, he extended his lead further following a 95 before four-time world champion Higgins enjoyed his best spell of the night with a 68 as he reduced his arrears to two.

But record 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan guaranteed an overnight lead with frame seven, before moving four clear with the aid of 76 in the final frame of the evening.

The match is scheduled to resume on Sunday evening at 19:00BST.

Allen and Hawkins set up quarter-final clash after wins

Earlier in the day, number 14 seed Mark Allen defeated the champion here two years ago Kyren Wilson, 13-9, to reach the quarter-finals of snooker's flagship event for the sixth time in his career. Full match report here.

Former world number one Allen will face recent Welsh Open champion Barry Hawkins in the last eight after he ended the challenge of three-time triumphant Mark Williams, 13-9.

Runner-up to O'Sullivan in 2013, it is the first time that Hawkins has reached this stage of the competition since 2018.

Level at 4-4 after the first session, number 11 seed Hawkins established a lead on Friday night, totting up breaks of 63, 66, 113 (his second ton of the tie), 59 and 89 in moving 10-6 up. And when they returned for the climax on Saturday night, Hawkins kept his opponent at arm's length as the frames were shared.

Title holder Zhao on course for last eight

Reigning champion Zhao Xintong is inching his way to the quarter-finals, but still has work to do to get past Chinese compatriot Ding Junhui.

Resuming on Saturday afternoon locked at 4-4, Zhao claimed the opening frame after a break of 77 although Ding levelled when taking frame ten on the final black - another frame in this contest to be decided on the final ball.

Up until this point, no more than a frame could separate these two Chinese green baize behemoths, but world number four Zhao created daylight as efforts of 115 and 87 helped him in a three-frame sequence to move 8-5 up. That run of 115 was the 2,500th century break to be made at the Crucible Theatre in this great competition.

A pair of 69s did assist former three-time UK Champion Ding to two of the final three frames, though, meaning they'll return for their concluding session on Sunday morning with the title holder 9-7 ahead, needing four more frames to advance.

World number one Judd Trump and qualifier Hossein Vafaei are all square at 4-4 after their opening act.

2019 World Champion Trump went into the mid-session interval 3-1 up but Iran's top player strung together three frames on resumption to go in front for the first time. However, Trump ended the afternoon in style with a 115 to restore parity.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 World Snooker Championship, visit our tournament information centre here.