Reigning world champion Luca Brecel made two century breaks to hold a 6-3 lead over David Gilbert at the end of the first session at the Crucible.
In a high-quality match on the opening day of the 2024 World Championship, the Belgian hit breaks of 134, 104, 91 and 73 to move 5-2 ahead.
Gilbert made a break of 115 in the eighth frame, but Brecel only needs four frames to move into the last 16.
World number two Judd Trump holds a 6-3 lead against Iran’s Hossein Vafaei.
Trump won the 2019 title and was in ruthless form as he punished any mistake from Vafaei, 19th in the world.
The pair had met in 2022, with Trump winning 10-4, and the Englishman again holds the advantage before their match concludes in the Sunday afternoon session.
Vafaei was 56-4, 67-0 and 44-8 ahead in the second, third and fifth frames respectively, only for Trump to win each frame, including one on the pink and one on the black.
A superb clearance of 138 gave Vafaei the sixth frame, Trump took the next two, but Vafaei ended the session well with a break of 74.
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