When Ronnie O’Sullivan is around, things are rarely dull, and ‘the Rocket’ played shoeless en route to building a healthy advantage in his World Snooker Championship first-round match on Tuesday afternoon.

The Chigwell potter’s new shoes appeared to be hurting him during his match with qualifier Craig Steadman so he played frame six in just his socks before being given a pair of more comfortable size-eights by tournament director Mike Ganley soon afterwards.

That incident was little more than a bump in the road for the five-time champion however as he produced some efficient, if not breathtaking, snooker to lead 7-2 ahead of Wednesday morning’s resumption.

O’Sullivan almost made the most spectacular of starts at the Crucible Theatre – potting 13 red and 13 blacks before narrowly missing a tricky long red with a maximum break in his sights.

The 39-year-old then won three of the next four frames to extend the gap to 4-1 losing the sixth in his shoeless state.

But Ganley’s footwear appeared to do the trick for the world No.2 as he then reeled off the final three frames of the session, which included a break of 75 in the last.

That means he will have a five-frame advantage when the pair play to a finish from 10am on Wednesday, with a second-round encounter against either Mark Williams or Matthew Stevens on the line.

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