Ronnie O'Sullivan made an ominous start to his quest for an eighth Masters title, thrashing Luca Brecel 6-1 at Alexandra Palace.
O'Sullivan knocked in two centuries in a virtuoso performance that left Brecel – who was runner-up at recent the English Open – bereft of answers, the Rocket marching into his 24th Masters quarter-final with ease.
It was largely one-way traffic from the moment O'Sullivan kicked off with a typically silky run of 97, and 1-0 soon became 3-0 after Brecel went in-off on the blue in the third frame and had to watch his opponent take advantage in ruthless style.
To his credit, Brecel rallied with a brilliant century break in frame four but things unravelled soon after, O'Sullivan producing a stunning total clearance of 134 in the very next frame, before following up with 104.
The seventh frame was harder work for O'Sullivan, but Brecel was beginning to cut a frustrated figure and the seven-time Masters champion finished the job soon after.
O’Sullivan was in buoyant mood afterwards and told the BBC: “I feel like I’ve got life in perspective – I spent enough years getting disappointed by the game, and I thought let’s try not to get disappointed, and it’s freed me up a bit.
“I’m still competitive. If I take up anything I want to be better, it’s just natural and I’ll never lose that, so the players can expect me to keep coming for more.
“You sense someone is a bit nervous and you just pounce on it. Whoever you are in any sport, when you play the top players they will sniff it out.
“You don’t have to say you’re under pressure, I smell it, and if I smell it I’m going to be on you like a rash.”
Lisowski breaks the curse
Jack Lisowski added to John Higgins' woes with an impressive 6-3 victory in the evening match, his first at the Masters.
Contrary to expectations this was a tale of Higgins producing the scoring flashpoints but Lisowski the greater body of work, one century and three other key contributions doing the job for the latter.
Higgins produced a sumptuous 142 clearance to keep his head above water in the first half of the match and threatened a 147 as his chance faded, but brief flickers of a fightback proved exactly that as a miserable season continued.
For Lisowski, it was a first Masters win at the fourth attempt and with Hossein Vafaei to come in the last 16, the event will have a new semi-finalist later this week.
"It’s massive to win my first match here, such a special feeling," said Lisowski. "I thought I was clinical tonight. To beat someone as good as John is a dream. I made a few decent breaks when it really mattered and stopped him from building momentum. The break in the last frame, that was such a good feeling and it’s why we play snooker.
"I worked very hard for this tournament and that showed on the table. It’s the best crowd anywhere in the world. They have so much energy and they are so enthusiastic, it’s the perfect place to play. I try to entertain people, I want them to enjoy it. It’s high tariff stuff but when it comes off, it’s lovely.
"Hossein is a great lad and a very good friend of mine. He’s a future top 16 player and he’ll stay there for many years to come. He plays the game the right way. But it will be business on the table. I’ll try to take him out."
