“Pretty evil” Ronnie O’Sullivan carved out a 6-2 overnight lead against his old foe John Higgins in the first session of their second-round showdown at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

The seven-time winner blasted a 137 total clearance as he dominated his opponent and edged closer towards his goal of eclipsing Stephen Hendry and clinching a record eighth Crucible title.

O’Sullivan’s performance was hailed by former champion and now BBC pundit John Parrott, who said: “Ronnie was pretty evil there in amongst the balls and was definitely the best of the two players.

“Tomorrow is another day and John knows he is well capable of beating Ronnie 6-2. But John is going to have to find his top game because it doesn’t look like Ronnie is going to dip any time soon.”

Looking sharp and focused throughout, O’Sullivan dominated the session from start to finish to the extent that the Scot might have been grateful to go in overnight only four frames adrift.

O’Sullivan set about his task with a break of 86 until a rash missed pink in the second frame, which he played left-handed, gifted Higgins the chance to level things up. It proved an all-too-rare opening for Higgins, who was rendered a virtual spectator as O’Sullivan rifled breaks of 82, 137 and 92 in the next three frames.

Higgins chiselled out the sixth frame at the second attempt but normal service was soon resumed as O’Sullivan won the final two frames of the session to put himself well in control going into Sunday evening’s resumption.

Mark Allen beat the world No 2, Kyren Wilson, 13-9 to reach the quarter-finals. The Northern Irishman, who had let slip a 5-0 lead in their second-round match, won four of the six frames played in Saturday’s morning session to upset the 2024 champion.

Allen will face Barry Hawkins in the last eight after the No 11 seed defeated the three-time champion Mark Williams. The Englishman led 10-6 going into their Saturday evening session and pressed home his advantage to reach his first Crucible quarter-final for eight years. Hawkins sealed a 13-9 victory with an impressive display of his very solid all-round game.

Wilson had won six successive frames to lead 6-5 and a see-saw battle ensued before Allen won the final two frames in Friday’s session, aided by a 140 break, to edge 9-7 ahead. Wilson clawed it back on Saturday morning with a break of 78 in the opening frame, but Allen produced scores of 78 and 61 to go 11-8 up and, despite losing the next frame, held his nerve to progress.

After the match Allen made an astonishing attack on the seven-time Crucible champion Stephen Hendry for “talking rubbish”.

Hendry had strongly criticised the Antrim player’s shot selection during the opening session of the match on Thursday. But after Allen recovered to seal his victory, he turned his attention to Hendry, saying: “Stephen’s entitled to his opinion, but more often than not, he’s full of rubbish, to be honest.

“Not everyone can come here and make it look as easy as he did, but you’re also looking at someone that never won a ‘triple crown’ event after they turned 30, so the game changes and maybe that stubbornness is what cost him his later part of his career.”

Hossein Vafaei, the only qualifier to reach the last 16, fired four half-centuries to reel in Judd Trump, the world No 1, in the first session of their second-round clash, although a break of 115 in the last frame of the day ensured the former champion levelled at 4-4 overnight.

The defending champion, Zhao Xintong, will resume the final session of his match against Ding Junhui on Sunday with a slender 9-7 advantage. Zhao won five of the session’s eight frames. The winner will face Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals.

Neil Robertson, the champion in 2010, squandered a 4-1 lead in the opening session of his second-round match against Chris Wakelin. The Australian won four frames on the spin after losing the opener, but Wakelin, the world No 13, hit back, producing a break of 77 to stop the rot and taking the final two frames of the morning session to level.