Ronnie O'Sullivan leaves Ali Carter 'embarrassed' in latest Crucible win over rival

Ronnie O'Sullivan made a mockery of his recent period of inactivity by reeling off three centuries in five frames as he completed a 10-4 win over in the first round of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.

, who has not played on the professional tour since he crashed out of the Championship League in January, looked close to his best as he swiftly set up a last-16 clash against Pang Junxu.

Carter had , but he failed to score a point in the first two frames upon the resumption as O'Sullivan dispatched breaks of 59 and 117 to extend his lead to 7-4.

Carter blew it again in the 12th frame, running out of position on 28, and, clearly in no mood to hang around, O'Sullivan produced a clearance of 74 followed by his second century of the day to head into the interval one frame from victory.

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It was a far cry from a forgettable opening session in which O'Sullivan had benefited from a series of errors by Carter to carve out his relatively rusty first-day lead. Confirmation of O'Sullivan's progress duly arrived in the fifth frame of the day as a 131 total clearance wrapped up what was an ultimately emphatic victory .

Carter cut a frustrated figure after the match and ended up blasting his own performance during an interview with the , admitting things got 'embarrassing'.

He admitted: "I was always in it at 5-4 but Ronnie got going and I just seemed to find myself in awkward positions. I split the pack a couple of times and missed a couple of blacks off the cushion when I couldn't really get on anything. It just went from bad to worse and it sort of begins to get a little bit embarrassing out there."

Pang became the sixth and final Chinese player to reach the last 16 after completing a 10-7 win over his compatriot and 12th seed, Zhang Anda.

The 25-year-old was beaten 10-7 by O'Sullivan on his Crucible debut two years ago but has improved since and reached his second ranking semi-final at the Northern Ireland Open in October.

"The pressure was huge at the start and I didn't perform well in the first session," Pang said. "But after falling behind, I relaxed and managed to play better.

"I think I have a chance to win. You learn everything from playing (against top players). Their shot selection, their response, and how to handle pressure - there's so much I can learn from them."