Hossein Vafaei loses his cool against Ronnie O'Sullivan with a reckless break in the second frame at the World Snooker Championship

It was in reference to the Rocket doing the same to him when trailing 4-0 in a German Masters qualifying event back in 2021 which Vafaei went on to win 5-0 and later branded it 'disrespectful'.

There's been a war of words since then and the relationship deteriorated further during the opening week of Crucible action.

Despite O'Sullivan warning Vafaei not to 'rattle my cage' following his first-round win over Pang Junxu, the Iranian hit the headlines on Monday when mocking the Rocket for making 'excuses' and for being a 'nice person when he's asleep'.

However, O'Sullivan didn't look bothered by the moment of madness and preceded to take an early 2-0 lead with his second break of 78, eventually going on to boss the session and establish a 6-2 advantage.

A 102 break in frame six was the highlight for O'Sullivan, his 200th Crucible century, but all the focus was on Vafaei and the way he'd started the game, later finding his feet somewhat and ending the session on a high.

Commentating for the BBC, Stephen Hendry simply said: "Not good. Not clever."

Six-time world champion Steve Davis was equally bemused during the BBC's coverage, adding: "Smashing the balls up is going back to Quinten Hann who basically bailed out by smashing it up. He wasn’t trying to attack or anything, he just didn’t want the pressure of the matches.

"It’s not necessarily disrespectful to Ronnie O’Sullivan (but) it may be considered disrespectful to the game of snooker and the people who come along to watch. They want to come and see a great game. It’s not good, it’s not nice and it’s not a personal game snooker. Your problem is the game and the balls not your opponent.

Shaun Murphy added: "Without your composure you lose everything. That’s the glue that keeps you together when you’re out there. You’ve got your technique and shot selection, but your composure knits it all together.

"If you lose that you lose everything."

O'Sullivan will return at 2.30pm on Saturday with a commanding lead and could still win the game with a session to spare, which would require him taking seven of the next eight frames.

He is as short as 1/33 with Sky Bet, who made it an 8/1 chance that O'Sullivan does go on to win 13-3 and avoid a return on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, Mark Allen went close to achieving that rare feat as he powered into a 12-4 lead over Stuart Bingham. They will return for the final session on Saturday morning with Bingham requiring arguably the finest comeback in World Championship history to keep his hopes of a second world title alive.

Related snooker links

• World Championship draw and schedule
• World Championship daily best bets
• Crucible betting preview
• World Championship: Expert picks
• Three qualifiers to watch
• Neal Foulds' top 16 profiles
• Ronnie on his documentary
• Neil Robertson hoping to learn from Ronnie
• Perfect Snooker Player
• Snooker's GOAT: O'Sullivan by the numbers
• O'Sullivan: One of a kind
• History of snooker's number ones
• Watch all the Crucible 147 breaks
• History of 147 breaks
• Crucible memories: Ronnie's finest hour
• Crucible memories: Higgins denies Trump
• Crucible memories: White a People's Champion
• Crucible memories: Johnson stuns Davis
• Crucible memories: Foulds' dream debut