World Championship final: Ronnie O'Sullivan leads 10-7 against battling Barry Hawkins

Ronnie O'Sullivan leads Barry Hawkins 10-7 in the final of the World Championship after a high quality opening day.

O'Sullivan knocked in four century breaks to keep out in front but Hawkins, a massive underdog going into the best-of-35 showdown, produced some superb snooker of his own to stay in touch.

Four-time champion O'Sullivan took the opening two frames of the final before first-time finalist Hawkins steadied his nerves and reeled off the next three to take a surprise 3-2 lead.

That only seemed to spark O'Sullivan back to life and the defending champion fired in breaks of 76, 113 and 100 to seize a 5-3 advantage at the end of the first afternoon.

Hawkins kept O'Sullivan in his sights by sharing the first four frames of the evening session and from 7-5 down he unexpectedly levelled at 7-7 after breaks of 83 in frame 13 and a 133 clearance in the next - his highest ever break at the Crucible.

But, like a great champion, O'Sullivan responded in style and his 103 in frame 15 made it 128 career centuries at the Crucible, taking him one clear of Stephen Hendry's record.

Not satisfied with that, the 'Rocket' effortlessly knocked in a 106 to make it back-to-back centuries for the second time in the match and extend his lead to 9-7.

The crucial final frame of the evening was a more tense affair as Hawkins attempted to reduce his overnight deficit to a single frame.

The 34-year-old from Kent led 48-31 before running out of position and it eventually came down to the black after Hawkins had potted blue and pink.

But Hawkins played a loose safety to leave a length-of-the-table pot and O'Sullivan needed no second invitation as he slammed the black into the top right corner pocket to put himself 10-7 up and eight frames away from becoming world champion for a fifth time.