O'Sullivan races through to last 16 at Crucible

Seven-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan raced through the two frames he needed to thrash Welsh qualifier Jackson Page 10-1 and move into the last 16 at the World Championship.

O'Sullivan, 48, is aiming to win his eighth title and move clear of Stephen Hendry's mark of seven Crucible successes in the 1980s, and he began Thursday's play with an emphatic 8-1 lead over his 22-year-old opponent.

A break of 79 took O'Sullivan one frame away and he clinched victory soon afterwards.

He will now play another Welsh player in Ryan Day, who defeated 15th seed Barry Hawkins 10-8 in Wednesday's evening session.

O'Sullivan's winning margin was the joint largest at this year's competition, matching Kyren Wilson's 10-1 victory over Dominic Dale.

In Thursday's evening session (19:00 BST) John Higgins completes the first round as his match with Jamie Jones will be played to a conclusion.

Welshman Jones qualified with a win over 2010 winner Neil Robertson and is aiming to back that up with a victory over the four-time world champion.

Higgins, 48, holds a 5-4 lead after a hard-fought first session and needs a victory to have a chance of staying inside the world's top 16.

There is speculation the 1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011 winner will retire if he was to fall out of the top 16, with him telling BBC Sport he would "evaluate" his future after the competition has finished.

If Higgins was to lose, it would set a new record for the highest number of seeds to be eliminated in the first round.

Eight of the top 16 - Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson, Zhang Anda and Barry Hawkins - have all lost, level with the eight that fell in 1980, 1992 and 2012.

The second round began on Thursday, with 16th seed Robert Milkins taking on David Gilbert, the man who beat 2023 champion Brecel on the opening day.

In the evening session, world number two Judd Trump begins his last-16 match against 14th seed Tom Ford.