O'Sullivan dominating last-16 match against Pang

Ronnie O'Sullivan built a 6-2 lead against China's Pang Junxu as he dominated the first session of their last-16 match at the World Snooker Championship.

O'Sullivan, 49, is aiming to become the first man in the modern era to win the event eight times and he remained on course to do so after pouncing on repeated mistakes from qualifier Pang, who is ranked 27th in the world.

The match resumes at 14:30 BST on Sunday with O'Sullivan comfortably ahead. He will win the tie with a session to spare in the unlikely event he claims seven of Sunday's eight scheduled frames.

O'Sullivan had won the closing five frames in his 10-4 success over Ali Carter in round one and raced into a 4-0 lead against Pang, aided by breaks of 58, 91, 50 and 63.

Pang made a 119 break in frame five, but that was his only run above 50. He had a chance to end only two frames behind, but another miss in frame eight helped O'Sullivan inch a step closer to the winning target in the best-of-25-frame match.

The second-round match between John Higgins and Xiao Guodong will go to a late-night finish, with the Scot 12-11 in front and needing one more frame to reach the quarter-finals.

Only seven of the scheduled nine frames could be completed in Saturday's opening session.

With the afternoon session scheduled to begin at 14:30 BST, Higgins and Xiao were hauled off shortly before 14:15.

Higgins squandered a glorious chance to wrap up victory as he led 53-33 in the 23rd frame but missed a black off the spot before Xiao kept his tournament hopes alive.

They will resume on the first available table after Saturday's scheduled evening matches.

The match was tied at 8-8 when they resumed in the morning, and Xiao, ranked 14th in the world, made a break of 76 to move 9-8 ahead.

Four-time world champion Higgins responded by taking the next two frames to nudge in front at 10-9.

The 20th frame lasted more than 62 minutes, with Higgins unable to convert a 46-25 lead before Xiao finally produced a fine pot on the pink to take it.

Higgins responded well with a break of 84 and then took the 22nd frame to move one away from victory.

But after Higgins' missed black in frame 23, Xiao held his nerve with a run of 36 to stay in the tournament and force the tie into a late finish.

As well as his trophy wins, Higgins, 49, has lost in four further finals at the Crucible, gone out in the semi-finals on three occasions and fallen at the last-eight hurdle seven times, including the past two seasons.