Day 1 Snooker: World Championship Highlights

Hello and welcome to highlights of the first day's play it at the

Crucible Theatre for the 2013 Betfair World Snooker Championship.

A very special atmosphere in this city because of one person. Ronnie

O'Sullivan, the defending champion, The Rocket, his back.

Breaking snooker news. Ronnie O'Sullivan has decided to miss the

rest of the snooker season. Doubts have been cast on whether he will

The Rocket, Ronnie O'Sullivan! A terrific atmosphere it in the

Crucible this morning for the return of Ronnie O'Sullivan, the

defending champion. This is the The Rocket is back and he takes the

Ronnie O'Sullivan will be delighted. Marcus Campbell will be kicking

himself. In it goes. And, Ronnie O'Sullivan

Ronnie will be disappointed with And Ronnie O'Sullivan, defending

champion, ends the first session leading seven frames to two. Ronnie

O'Sullivan steams into a lead after the first session needing just

three frames to move into the second round. He won the first two

frames of the evening session. Marcus Campbell then staged a mini

Tale you what, this will be some going to make a break with the

high-value colours, as they are. Sometimes, he relishes this kind of

game, concentrating even harder. If he gets the pink in play, it

will be available minus three of the four top pockets. Without the

pink in play, it is virtually I feel one of your specials coming

If the pink, if he gets on to a red, He could have easily kissed the

black but would have left the white I can't remember which match, but

last year, he won the frame with 12 reds and 12 pinks, it was quite

amazing. I can't remember who made It is not straight forward to get

onto the pink. If he plays through the gap, he may kiss on to the red

As long as he is not straight on the yellow... He can get anywhere

Has he come far enough? He hasn't. He might have to play a plant. This

is not easy, especially with the left hand and the distance between

He was disappointed with the The same scenario, it is not

He couldn't do anything there, he Only one loose red available after

I don't know if he can force an He has found the gap there. So,

He hasn't quite hit that hard He was a bit unlucky to go between

those two of reds. What a shot Marcus is faced with here. 33

points behind, 9-4 down. Faced with a long red. With the cue ball not

Brilliant! Brilliant cueing. Absolutely, Dennis. And he has left

an angle. Look at that for a shot. Not an ounce of side on.

The white must have jumped a few times before it got to the red.

That is unlucky. You can see the anoints on his face. That is very

unlucky. Two of the best shots we A bit unlucky there. Have a look at

that. Watch the white. It bounced at least five times. But he hit it

They've 26 point lead. But equivalent to 50 points given where

Well done. You have to take your hat off to markers. He is not

giving in at all. He is fighting to There was a match many years ago,

somebody came back from 9-2, do you remember that? I can remember Cliff

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 51 seconds

Thorburn losing to Nigel Bond. Mentioning the awkward balls. He

may need that awkward blue. Brown to blue will be an awkward shot and

the fact Marcus is right handed these he may need the rest should

He has got himself back into this frame but he's still not favourite

Doesn't he get some cue ball movement? That is excellent.

reminds me of the Canadian Bill Werbeniuk. He generates a lot of

I'm not sure what happened there, he wasn't settled. He has done the

right thing, and got up, from the shot. The black is slightly in his

He has brought the blue into play, he didn't want to. What a shot this

Never expected to cannon into the blue. This will need very good

cueing, dead straight into the No, he knew the importance of that.

The blue finishers... I thought he was going to fluked a snooker. Is

that his last shot in this World Championship? It was a dead

straight pot. Which can be telling He missed it by a long way. Having

potted some fantastic balls in this frame. That was almost a scenario

with all your eggs in one basket. Yellow, green and brown needed. And

it will be a very good start for the defending world champion. We

were all wondering how he was going to start his campaign, after being

out for a year. He has looked pretty good. A couple of little

mishaps along the way. A few long pots missed, but overall the

He doesn't play it until next Saturday, so he will drive back

home to see his family, his He missed the blue by a mile. But I

think Ronnie O'Sullivan is back, and safely into the last 16 you

would have to say. It took him longer than he would

have liked but Bonnier Sullivan finally sealed his place in the

second round seeing of Marcus Campbell. At times, he looked in

stunning form. He appeared to enjoy himself, scoring 952 points in

those frames. My first match of the season. We

are at the end of the season. It is very difficult. I have never found

myself in this situation before in my life. It is a totally new

experience for me. A once in a lifetime opportunity.

To be honest, I never focused on him, I tried to focus on myself. I

was happy with the way I felt and the way I played today. In

different circumstances, different player, I would have been a match

for most people today. He pinched a couple of frames, clearing up, some

really good clearances, he is so cynical and quick. There is

obviously a bit of rustiness there which is to be expected. But I'm

pleased to get when -- win. He has certainly throwing down the ball

that to the rest of the people here in the Crucible.

Plenty of other of matches to bring There are a highlight of that first

match with Ricky Walden in World Championship Snooker Extra right

Lisowski is making his Crucible debut.

As Ronnie O'Sullivan entered the arena for the evening session,

another former world champion did Probably, but I am still 38 years

old, still No. 11 at -- in the world.

Now we are playing every week or I don't think they are scared. I am

all for it as long as 128 goes to every venue. Until that happens, it

Probably have to plead guilty myself, and probably a lot of

What are you saying? I would agree with that. There are lot of people

I am quite laid back, and never take anything seriously really. I

just love a good wind up, wedding somebody up. I actually enjoy

somebody trying to wind me up but added big anyone has succeeded.

I am a lot better than him now, that is for sure.

An honest Mark Williams there. His opponent fellow Welshman Michael

White. Last time they met, he beat him 4-1.

Michael white took the first two frames, Williams pulled one back

before capital light white took the 4th. We join it in frame five,

Michael weight is trailing -- It was one of those. When it goes

into the heart of the pocket, you It was very well judged. Unlucky

He played the two cushion escape with pace, that is the problem if

you catch it too thick. This is a It looked from here as if he would

It would have been a good chance if Very nice. The confidence of youth,

He struck that nicely. I am not certain if the black will go into

this right corner. If it does, he could play for the black. Certainly

give him better opportunities to win the frame at this visit. I

think he did play for the black. But he didn't want to get that far

So, can he reached that? He has to Very well played. Considering the

noise going on, on the other side of the wall. It took a lot of

concentration and he couldn't have Still 11 points in arrears. Not the

Left himself a nice angle here. Certainly may be able to play for

I think he is OK, the red passes The problem with being too straight,

is you cannot get the cue ball away Left himself a bit of distance

between the two balls. He hasn't been missing much in this match so

far. A very good performance. There is no certainty in this game that

you make the transition from a very good young player, into which top

player, but he is making a good He has taken these really well. 16

Mark Williams was in first but And Mark Williams will not be

coming back to the table. Two times That would have been nice if he had

got the cannon, but it doesn't matter. He is 30 points in front

Mark Williams I am certain will stay in his seat, which he does. So,

Michael White, the young man, on his debut, is leading the twice

champion of the world, Mark Williams, by 4-1. A great little

break by Michael White, Mark Williams in a spot of bother.

Whatever it is, it is not a bad Well, dear me! Everybody, tip toe!

That is unbelievable. How has that Not quite as amazing as that.

Unbelievable things happening on this table. He is on the blue and a

chance to win the frame at this visit. Wouldn't it be remarkable if

It has stopped inch-perfect, we have a new favourite for this frame

So, 33 points behind. He needs a pink from this last red. To be able

Oh, well, would you believe it? Would you believe that? He was

playing with so much confidence. That stopped him in his tracks,

just this red needed for Mark It is an excellent snooker. He

It is a very good attempt. Excellent. He has pulled a frame

Excellent. He has pulled a frame back. Still trading 4-2. It is

always nice to see players having a bit of banter with the crowd after

snookering himself behind the black and he will be kicking himself for

missing that red. It is into frame seven we go at Michael White is

back at the table. -- and Michael He has been fortunate with kicks in

And in adverse conditions like we have got at the moment, these shots,

when you roll them in, you are more With these type of frames which are

quite fragmented, you would expect Mark Williams to be the stronger of

He is one of these players that can win a few frames without doing a

He is not happy with himself. We can see that in his facial

expressions. He is not happy with He is not hitting it as smoothly as

he normally does. It is all down to Once again, not happy with his

You get a feeling that they could have been an error somewhere, John.

I really do feel that this is a very big frame for Mark Williams.

That was a poor position again. He has played for blue and is

completely the wrong side of it. He has got plenty of room to manoeuvre

but he has got to judge the pace of Just about got there. 67 remaining.

Now he has decided to... Still the He could have been better on the

And in it gaze. An important frame and it goes the way of Mark

The one thing about him... He wants to play well and he wants to be

scoring heavily when he does get the opportunities, but he will not

be disappointed to win scrappy frames like this. He said earlier,

you said earlier, he was a very brave player. He is hoping that the

level of his game will improve as That is his best so far. 64. 61 was

his previous, in the third frame. It does not seem a big break. But

with the way he has been playing, That is enough. Michael White might

consider himself unlucky. That was more like Mark Williams and write

back in the match now, just one back in the match now, just one

behind, 4-3. And the comeback is on. He took the next one to make it 4-4.

Into the final frame at the session. White is at the table and he is

How could he get that back on the baulk cushion after that? He has

left himself a tricky brown. And if he misses that, he will lead Mark

Williams back to the table and it will probably cost him the frame.

These are the times when you have got to find something, in the World

He is looking to see if he can play for the Brack. -- black. I think

that is too risky. It is only available in to the right corner.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 51 seconds

If it goes right, good shot but it Some precise precision shots needed.

He would like to get that red out He is having a look at the red

passing the black in to the right corner. It looks a bit tight. It

looks very tight. It might squeeze You would not want to Harry potter

that for your life. -- you would He has waited a long time for his

chance. He is doing all right at This red will be available after

potting the black in to the left He would have preferred to be a

fraction streets or on the black. Oh, he thinks it goes into the

other corner. -- a fraction He probably would have liked a bit

more angle. But if he can force it on to the right hand side of the

Just got into it a little bit too much. But he has got a 14 point

advantage. This is a decent break of 45, considering he has not had

any table time in the last 30 minutes or so. It was always going

to be a tall order to win the frame in this visit. A good safety now.

And he will be right back in the He will be hoping that the blue

comes to his rescue. And I think it He got away with it that time.

think it was slightly mistimed when he played that red below the table

but he got away with it. This red He might be taking the double here.

You never know where they are going to end up. He might think he was a

bit unlucky but it is always the same. If you hit one into another,

they could stop anywhere. One could pot and it could be another frame

I do not know what to say about that. It all has a long way away.

It is not like him to miss a vital one like that. That was a definite

Well, he needs it to miss the pink but it is not too bad. It has left

him on the green and he only needs the green to be on the penultimate

A quick look at the old scoreboard... He needs two reds and

That looks about inch-perfect on the blue and Mark Williams might

not have a chance in this frame. Apple's required. -- a couple of

This red and the black, you would think, he would play for. And in it

went and now the black to give 32 A 5-4 overnight lead... And Mark

Williams will be philosophical and think that it could have been worse.

A very interesting match, this could turn out to be tomorrow. This

man has got great ability and he is a great talent. Can he ever come

the experience of Mark Williams? -- overcome. It will be an interesting

Overall, I think he deserves that lead. And I think he will have to

settle for that lead at 5-4. It was an interesting session. Mark

Williams will not be pleased. Michael White might be a bit

disappointed that he is only one in front but that is the end of the

day and he will take that into the day and he will take that into the

second session tomorrow. And it is very finely balanced between those

Welshmen. We have seen some terrific snooker on the opening day