It is as we were heading into the evening session, with a four-frame difference separating Ronnie O’Sullivan and Si Jiahui, but neither player will take many positives from their displays so far.
It was more of the same as far as the Chinese player was concerned, failing to capitalise on mistakes as his cue ball control so often let him down when getting in to promising positions.
From O’Sullivan’s perspective, he started in ruthless fashion, digging in to build up an 8-3 lead, but untimely errors allowed Jiahui to pounce and stay within touching distance.
Many times Jiahui had golden opportunities to close the gap even further, but a number of puzzling and pacey efforts allowed the O’Sullivan to keep the world number 13 at arms length, leading 9-6 heading into the final frame of the session.