RON WAY TO FINALLY MAKE MARK

MARK JOYCE finally got to the Crucible at the 18th attempt – only to land reigning and six-time world champion Ronnie O’sullivan for his first match.

The 37-year-old (right) from

Walsall has been a Betfred World Championship nearly man since even before turning professional in 2006.

But after beating Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo 10-7, Joyce knows it will be a tremendous occasion opening up the blue-riband tournament tomorrow at the iconic theatre in Sheffield.

And he has warned the Rocket he will not be a rabbit in the headlights, having beaten him in their only match played over a longer distance.

Joyce and O’sullivan (below) have only played three times and he beat the world No.2 5-4 at the 2017 China Open.

Joyce said: “It is a fantastic honour and occasion to play Ronnie for my first-ever match at the Crucible, and be part of opening the tournament.

“I have beaten Ronnie the last time in a decent format in Beijing. But clearly he is a fantastic player, the best there has ever been.

“Quite a few pros had said I might have been the best player never to reach the Crucible. And loads just assume I have and ask when was the last time!

“It is a massive relief and huge monkey off my back, and it will be nice to play in front of a crowd, even if it is a limited capacity. I have always known the ability was there, it has been sorting it out between the ears.”

O’sullivan is ready to bid for a recordequalling seventh world title with a cue that has had THREE emergency sets of repairs. He was very unhappy with it at the recent Tour Championship after two attempts at surgery.

But a third crack by guru cue-maker John Parris has proved more successful.

Ronnie O’sullivan (1) v Mark Joyce, Anthony Mcgill (16) v Ricky Walden, Ding Junhui (9) v Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire (8) v Jamie Jones, John Higgins (5) v Tian Pengfei, Mark Williams (12) v Sam Craigie, Mark Allen (13) v Lyu Haotian, Mark Selby (4) v Kurt Maflin, Neil Robertson (3) v Liang Wenbo, Jack Lisowski (14) v Ali Carter, Barry Hawkins (11) v Matthew Selt, Kyren Wilson (6) v Gary Wilson, Shaun Murphy (7) v Mark Davis, Yan Bingtao (10) v Martin Gould, David Gilbert (15) v Chris Wakelin, Judd

Trump (2) v Liam Highfield.