Mark Selby battles to keep touch with Ronnie O’Sullivan in scrappy first session

After both players suffered a series of bad cue ball contacts in the third frame, O’Sullivan told referee Paul Collier: “I’ve never had kicks like that before in my life.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan missed his chance to turn up the heat on Mark Selby as the humidity threatened to wreak havoc in the first session of their World Championship semi-final.

O’Sullivan complained about the worst kicks of his career after an error-strewn start to the session, which the Rocket eventually had to settle for edging 5-3 despite dominating his out-of-sorts opponent.