There was plenty of belief that the qualifiers at this year's World Snooker Championship would really come to the fore and produce a number of high-profile scalps.
However, as of yet, and despite one or two close calls, that hasn't quite happened.
Sixteen players had to come through at least two, and as many as four, arduous rounds of qualifying to secure themselves of an appearance at the sport's spiritual home, the iconic Crucible Theatre.
Each of those players were pitted against the top 16 players in the world, with a spot in the last 16 of the biggest event of them all the reward for the winners.
In the past we have seen plenty of seeds fall at the first hurdle in the World Snooker Championship, including Kyren Wilson 12 months ago who was back in Sheffield looking to defend the title he picked up for the first time a year earlier.
But this time around, things appear to be fully going to script, with no qualifier, at the time of writing, having defied their outsider tagging and upset one of the big boys.
As the first round of play in South Yorkshire edges towards its conclusion, we take a look at when the last time all 16 seeds safely navigated a passage through to the second round.
Have all 16 seeds ever won their first round matches at the World Snooker Championship before?
There has never been a World Snooker Championship whereby all 16 seeded players have advanced through to the second round, meaning this year's tournament could break new ground.
The first time that the Crucible staged 32 players in the opening round of play was way back in 1982 - a year in which Alex Higgins defeated six-time champion of the world Ray Reardon 18-15 in an absorbing final.
It was also the campaign in which the competition witnessed one of the biggest shocks of all-time too, as reigning title-holder and number one seed Steve Davis was humbled 10-1 by Tony Knowles in his opener.
A total of six seeds were beaten in their opening matches that year, with an average of four seeded players being beaten in the first round in the years since.
There have only been a couple of occasions in which 15 of the 16 seeds have advanced to the second round, these being in 1983 when everyone other than Jimmy White - the number 12 seed - progressed and in 1993 when 15th seed Alain Robidoux was dumped out by qualifier Doug Mountjoy, who eventually went on to reach the final.
Just last year, six seeds come undone in the first round, with Jak Jones, Neil Robertson, Zhang Anda, Mark Selby and Barry Hawkins joining 2024 winner Wilson in being beaten early doors.
The highest amount of seeds to have been dumped out in the first round currently stands at eight, with that number of high-profile casualties taking place in 1992 and 2012 as well as more recently in 2024.
Triumphant seeds in the first round of this year's World Snooker Championship
- Zhao Xintong (1) - 10-7 v Liam Highfield
- Mark Allen (14) - 10-6 v Zhang Anda
- Barry Hawkins (11) - 10-4 v Matthew Stevens
- Mark Williams (4) - 10-4 v Antoni Kowalski
- Xiao Guodong (9) - 10-6 v Zhou Yuelong
- Ding Junhui (16) - 10-5 v David Gilbert
- John Higgins (5) - 10-7 v Ali Carter
- Kyren Wilson (3) - 10-7 v Stan Moody
- Wu Yize (10) - 10-2 v Lei Peifan
- Judd Trump (2) - 10-5 v Gary Wilson
- Shaun Murphy (8) - 10-9 v Fan Zhengyi
- Chris Wakelin (13) - 10-6 v Liam Pullen
Remaining seeded players
- Ronnie O'Sullivan (12) - 7-2 v He Guoqiang
- Mark Selby (7) - 7-2 v Jak Jones
- Neil Robertson (4) v Pang Junxu
- Si Jiahui (15) v Hossein Vafaei
