Ronnie O'Sullivan delighted the Alexandra Palace crowd with a dominant 6-1 win over Luca Brecel in the first round of the Cazoo Masters.
The Rocket began with a break of 97 in the opener and raced into a 3-0 advantage, with the Belgian both unfortunate and ruing some basic errors in losing tight second and third frames.
He deservedly got on the scoreboard with a century before the interval.
However O’Sullivan produced sublime snooker when the players returned, making a 134 clearance following a sloppy Brecel break-off and followed it up with another century to go within one of victory.
The seven-time world champion then clinched victory in three visits as Brecel's game crumbled and will play Mark Williams or David Gilbert in the quarter-finals on Thursday as he looks to win this title for the eight time and first since 2017.
The action at the Masters continues at 7pm as John Higgins takes on Jack Lisowski.
Despite frequent hints at retirement and having fallen out of love with the game, O'Sullivan said he felt refreshed and focused and fired a warning to the rivals who want to take his crown.
O’Sullivan 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," added O’Sullivan. "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."
Two-time champion John Higgins exited after a 6-3 defeat by Jack Lisowski, who claimed his first Masters victory at the fourth attempt.
Higgins, the 1999 and 2006 winner, made a scrappy start and fell 2-0 behind before reducing arrears with a 142 clearance – the highest break of the tournament so far.
The players traded frames before Lisowski's century break put him 4-2 up. Higgins had chances to cut his opponent’s lead to one frame for a third time but Lisowski moved 5-2 ahead.
A 93 break in the ninth frame wrapped up the match for Lisowski, who will take on Iran’s Hossein Vafaei in the quarter-finals.
