O’Sullivan finds himself in a pickle after failing to sufficiently open the pack with his first attempted entry. A difficult red to the middle inspects the mandibles. 32-16 his lead in the frame.

Over on the other table, Mark Allen has extended his lead to 9-3, with Stuart Bingham’s championship hopes quickly fading.

Vafaei tallies 16 before he too errs, a red in and out of the same left corner pocket where O’Sullivan had missed a couple of minutes earlier. The Rocket rifles in a red to restart his scoring.

A lovely safety from O’Sullivan draws a mistake out of Vafaei. The Englishman reaches five but clumsily leaves himself an awkward angle on a black along the cushion, which doesn’t drop.

Our lead pair are back out there, suitably refreshed after the interval. How will Hossein Vafaei approach these next four frames? His potting has been a little wayward so far.

Things are rapidly getting away from Stuart Bingham, who has just squandered a real opportunity in frame eleven to slip even further behind, missing the final black with the rest.

That’s three frames this afternoon and four in a row for Mark Allen, who now leads 8-3.

Neil Robertson recovered from 3-0 down to finish the opening session all square at 4-4 against Jak Jones in the second round of the World Snooker Championship.

Crucible debutant Jones, who upset two-time finalist Ali Carter 10-6 in the opening round, missed a red when poised to open up a 4-0 lead and former champion Robertson took full advantage to peg the Welshman back.

Jones came out on top after a marathon first frame, which lasted nearly three-quarters of an hour.

He followed up with a break of 122 to go 2-0 up and at the start of the third frame 2010 winner Robertson had not potted a ball for 30 minutes.Jones then opened up a 3-0 lead, but a missed red in the fourth frame halted a score of 46 and world number six Robertson hit back with successive breaks of 89 and 95 to make it 3-2.

Qualifier Jones composed himself to move 4-2 up with a 77-break before another missed red while on 48 cost him the seventh frame and Robertson then levelled it up by taking the eighth.

O’Sullivan deliberates over a red along the cushion behind the black, eventually turning it down. But when Vafaei misses a double, O’Sullivan will take it on, the ball whispering in both ears but eventually finding the safe embrace of the pocket. That will be the frame, clearing to the blue. 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

Up through the gears goes O’Sullivan, cruising to 69 and frame ball. But an ill-conceived cannon leaves 75 still on the table with no red on. It’s a significant advantage - but not frame-securing.

That is, conversely, a telling error from Vafaei, striking the wrong red on his way through to a pot. O’Sullivan up and running with the bunch Jackson Pollocked across the baize.

Behind the wall, Mark Allen has extended his lead to three frames (6-3) against Stuart Bingham, a solid 53 helping him take the first frame after the resumption.

Some slight sloppiness from both Ronnie O’Sullivan and Hossein Vafaei at the start of their fourth since the session start, but neither player is left with anything readily available to take on. Both turn down ambitious pots to play safe.