Close shave as Rocket roars into quarter-finals

An overnight head-shave had anything but a Samson-like effect on Ronnie O’Sullivan as he powered his way into the Embassy World Championship quarter-finals in Sheffield today.

The title-holder returned to the Crucible Theatre shorn of his locks yet was far too strong for Ali Carter, winning 13-7 having been pushed all the way by his practice partner in the first two sessions.

An upset had looked possible when the world number 19 trailed only 9-7, but on the resumption O’Sullivan moved into overdrive and took the opening four frames to wrap it up by the scheduled interval.