Ali Carter can't nudge out the final red on the left cushion and all of a sudden Ronnie O'Sullivan sniffs half a chance of winning this frame.

He wins the safety battle on the red and clears the colours to steal it.

Rather unsurprisingly Ronnie O'Sullivan is not firing on all cylinders yet and he misses a pink to the left middle.

Ali Carter gets another opportunity to capitalise.

We should add that Chris (as far as we know) does not work for BBC Sport nor is related to anyone who does!

Hazel Irvine
Presenter on BBC TV

There was a little sign of the respect between these two men at the start of the match.

Normally Ronnie is a fist-bump guy, he's not a hand shaker these days.

But Ronnie offered his hand, which Ali gratefully received and the match has started in good spirits.

The answer to that last question is 25. Ronnie O'Sullivan is looking so good until he misses a red on the bottom rail.

Just too much pace on that and it rattles in the jaws, instead of dropping.

Fabulous shot. Ronnie O'Sullivan is left with a red to the left middle but the black and pink are pretty tied up.

So he cannons into the reds and releases the pink before sinking a long blue. How many can he put on the board here?

Stephen Hendry
Seven-time world champion on BBC Two

It has been a good start by Ali Carter. His potting looks on point. He has just lost position a couple of times but it has been a pretty confident start.

Ali Carter takes the first frame with Ronnie O'Sullivan struggling to move the red that was tied up by the yellow.

Image source, PA Media

Zak Surety pulls one back against Ding Junhui on table two with a 109 clearance to make the score 6-4.

It's a second successive century break for the Englishman, who notched 104 to win the final frame of Monday's session.

Remember, the first to 10 goes into the last 16.

Ali Carter has made a really decent start to this match. Coming through qualifying looks to have sharpened him up nicely and another long red sets him off on what could possibly a frame-winning break.

The 45-year-old is restricted to just another 35 points. He is 61-4 up but has left Ronnie O'Sullivan with an easy starter, albeit one red is currently tied up.

It was nice to see Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter exchange a handshake from their seats before play began.

So far it is Carter who has tried to make all the running but he only has 26 points to show for it.

Ali Carter pots the first ball of the match. A beautiful long red that leaves him on the black.

He adds the seven extras but can't get position and plays safe.

Kyren Wilson
2024 World Championship winner on BBC TV

On Ronnie O'Sullivan losing his temper and breaking his cue earlier in the year:

I think he was going through a spell where it just wasn't quote happening for him. He was losing in a few tournaments early on for his very high expectations.

I've dealt with lot of pressure this year. He has it 10-fold. He's had it for many years so I sympathise - maybe it just got to boiling point.

Sometimes a new cue can give you a whole new challenge, and maybe that's something he needed.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has typically dominated against Ali Carter.

There is another match stat that goes into all the best-of-four matches on a snooker statistics website that has him down as winning 24 of their 27 matches as well.

Michael Emons
BBC Sport at the Crucible Theatre

We weren't sure if he would be competing, with Ronnie O'Sullivan only confirming his appearance at the tournament late last week.

But it would not be a world championship without the Rocket, at the Crucible for a 33rd year in succession. What an ovation for him from the Sheffield crowd as he made his way into the arena.

Here come the players...big names everywhere. And a huge cheer for the biggest name of all...

Steve Davis
Six-time world champion on BBC Two

Apprehension. You don't know how you are going to play. You can prepare on the practice table but as soon as the balls fly around against another great opponent you never know what will happen.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is currently prowling the back-stage corridor, where the players assemble prior to walking out.

We are about to have lift-off on his return to snooker.

Just what can we expect?

John Parrott
1991 world champion on BBC Radio 5 Live

People don't know what they are going to get and that is what people are excited about.

Nobody has seen Ronnie O'Sullivan in a tournament, so we don't know what we are going to get. You can lose the feeling of playing at a great venue like this very quickly. It is not a switch you can flick and you are in tournament mode.

But he came here in 2013, where he had not played for nearly an entire season and he won the whole tournament but in the first match Marcus Campbell had a lot of chances to knock him out.

He was a bit rusty and today he is playing Ali Carter who is tuned up and ready to go.

Ding Junhui is in action on the other table, where he leads Zak Surety.

Ding is among 10 Chinese players in the competition, bidding to become the first player from their country to win the title.