O’Sullivan took frequent breaks throughout the match, insisting to referee Jan Verhaas that he was distracted by movement in the audience and demanded a photographer be removed

O’Sullivan insisted he had no interest in his performance, and shrugged off the prospect of claiming the crown on his 46th birthday on Sunday

Shaun Murphy furious after first-round UK Championship loss

O’Sullivan begins his quest to extend his record-breaking roll of UK Championship titles to eight when he faces former ranking event winner Michael White in the opening round

Trump, 32, will regain his world No1 position next week and had hoped to celebrate in style with a fourth title in a row

It capped a fractious week for O’Sullivan at the Waterfront Hall, having criticised the lack of atmosphere at the venue before feeling the need to clarify that his complaint had not been aimed at fans

With no love lost between the two, Evans then ratcheted up the tension by snubbing Allen’s offer of a pre-match fist bump, leaving her former love interest hanging in an awkward opening moment

The 51-year-old came from behind to draw 2-2 with Martin Gould in his final match of the day at the Morningside Arena.

Not since the controversially staged Cheltenham Gold Cup in March 2020 had there been a full crowd at a UK sporting event of any sort

Selby leads 14-11, with 18 the target for victory

— and Cillian Murphy stars in The Delinquent Season

Kyren Wilson was unhappy with Murphy's ebullient celebrations

Murphy had looked set to leave himself an insurmountable challenge heading into Saturday’s concluding sessions

This generation’s veneration of live sport means it feels like cheating to steal your fix of drama via a nighttime highlights package.

Mark Selby continued his timely resurgence as he completed a 13-3 thrashing of fellow three-time champion Mark Williams with a session to spare

The pair’s quarter-final was finely poised at 8-8 overnight

Robertson has only reached the semi-finals once since winning his only world title in 2010 – but he has looked in good form

McGill withstood a stunning comeback from the defending champion who turned a 10-5 deficit into an 11-10 lead

McGill left his 13th black tottering over the bottom pocket in the seventh frame as he aimed to become only the eighth different player to achieve a fabled 147 at the Crucible

The three-time former champion adopted the shot, with which he nudges the cue-ball into the back of the reds off the bottom cushion, at the Masters in January

Even the most social of all footballers, Paul Pogba, is turning back to TV

Ronnie O’Sullivan insists he could not care less about the prospect of equalling Stephen Hendry’s record of seven Crucible crowns as he prepares to begin the defence of his world snooker title.

Former world champion Doherty, 51, had been desperate to get back to the Crucible for the first time in seven years

Stephen Hendry has dismissed his chances of returning to the Crucible this year despite sinking old foe Jimmy White to reach the second round of the World Championship qualifying tournament on Monday.

Twenty-seven years after dashing Jimmy White’s dreams in their fourth World Championship final, Stephen Hendry returned to haunt his former foe once again with a 6-3 comeback win in Sheffield.

The 1997 world champion has not made it through the brutal Betfred World Championship qualifying process since 2014, when he memorably knelt and kissed the arena floor

Aaron Hill, still in his rookie year as a professional, has been placed in a tough section of the draw and must win four matches to make it to the iconic theatre venue.

Stephen Hendry will face his great rival Jimmy White in a sensational opening qualifier for next month's World Snooker Championship.