Ditton's Barry Hawkins may have been the most consistent player at the Crucible in recent times, but admits he has a mountain to climb when he meets Ronnie O'Sullivan in round two.

Hawkins is the only player to have reached the one-table set up in each of the last three years and got his World Snooker Championship campaign underway on Wednesday with a 10-5 defeat of qualifier Zhang Anda.

Now he meets his old nemesis, having lost to O'Sullivan in 10 of their 11 previous meetings including a 10-1 drubbing in this year's Masters final, as well as defeats at the Crucible in the 2014 semi-final and 2013 final.

And Hawkins is fearful of an early exit.

“I've got to play special in the next round and try and push him if I can, because the last few times he has blown me away and I've crumbled,” said the 36-year-old.

“If I can get that mentality back that I had in the final a few years ago and actually feel like I can beat him, hopefully I can give him a decent game. If not he'll bash me up with a session to spare.

“Hopefully the Masters is out of my system and I can do better than winning one frame.

“I'm not even thinking about the next round, I've got the toughest draw I can get.

“If I can do a [Stuart] Bingham and beat Ronnie then you never know, but I've got an absolute mountain to climb and need to concentrate on that.”

Two breaks of 66 helped Hawkins establish a 6-3 lead overnight. And he got off to a flyer on Tuesday afternoon with a break of 52 extending his advantage.

But Hawkins and Zhang shared a relatively scrappy first four frames to leave the gap at three at the interval.

When the world No.11 returned to the table breaks of 55 and a tournament-high 141 got him over the line.

“I'm delighted to be in the next round,” he added. “I started to play a bit better today, I felt my focus was terrible yesterday, I couldn't concentrate.

“Maybe I was a bit nervous. I was so lucky to be 6-3 up, I was doing cartwheels, I could easily have been 6-3 down with the way I was cueing.

“It happens sometimes. It's hard to believe but when you're out there sometimes you're telling yourself 'you're in the world championship, get up for it' but you can't switch it on sometimes.

“Today I was determined to concentrate and I definitely played a lot better.”

Watch the World Championship LIVE on Eurosport, with Colin Murray and analysis from Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan.