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World Championship favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan trails amateur James Cahill


Ronnie O’Sullivan trails his World Championship first-round match (Picture: PA)

Tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan trails amateur James Cahill 5-4 after an uncharacteristically shaky opening session in their first-round World Championship match.

Cahill, who made history as the first amateur to play at the Crucible, showed no signs of early nerves as he took the opening frame to go 1-0 up.

World number one O’Sullivan hit back with a break of 51 to level, before moving into a 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 lead.

But debutant Cahill took advantage of a number of sloppy errors from O’Sullivan to level at 4-4, before pinching the final frame for a shock lead at the interval.

Cahill won three qualifying rounds just to make the World Championships and said before the match: ‘I don’t mind playing him. I don’t mind playing anyone. I know it’s the toughest draw.

‘I’ve played him three times before. I’ve played well against him in the past, but have obviously never played him here.

‘I’ve beaten Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy in the past… I’ve proved I can beat good players.’

Four-time champion John Higgins, meanwhile, progressed to the second round after beating Mark David 10-7.





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