World Championship Day 1

Ronnie's back: O'Sullivan through to the last 16 after beating
Marcus Campbell 10-4. Image: Monique Limbos

Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is the first man through to the last 16 of the World Champion after defeating Marcus Campbell 10-4 on the opening day of the tournament. ‘The Rocket’ took the opener with a break of 82 although Campbell took the next to draw level. Ronnie then nicked the next four, three of which could have gone either way, including breaks of 62, 71 and 85. Campbell closed the gap to 5-2 but O’Sullivan closed the first session 7-2 up, with runs of 86 and 58. Ronnie continued the evening session in similar fashion, with breaks of 102 and 90 to go 9-2 up. His Scottish opponent won the next two to ensure the interval was reached but O’Sullivan completed the victory by taking frame 14.

The other morning session match saw Ricky Walden race to a commanding 8-1 lead over Michael Holt. The Chester man won the first six without reply including breaks of 76, 55, 140 and 78. Holt finally registered in frame seven but Walden finished off the session by winning the next two.

In the afternoon session, Barry Hawkins managed to keep a lid on jack Lisowski to hold a 6-3 overnight advantage. Debutant Lisowski got off to a perfect start, compiling a break of 82 after his opponent had missed a red on 53. Hawkins got the better of a close second frame and took the third on the final black. The Ditton man also won frame four with a break of 50 to lead 3-1 at the interval. A missed brown from Hawkins gifted Lisowski the chance to pull one back as he hit a break of 100 but Barry won the next three on the bounce, including runs of 97, 100 and 66. Lisowski fired in several excellent long pots in the last frame of the session before winning a safety battle on the brown to take the frame.

On the other side, Shaun Murphy finished his first session 5-4 up on Martin Gould. The Pinner Potter started well winning the first two, including a 72 in the opener. Murphy levelled at the interval and a 112 break put him 3-2 up. Gould won the next but Murphy took frames seven and eight to go 5-3 up. Gould dominated the final frame though to ensure he is only one frame behind ahead of tomorrow evening’s concluding session.

In the other evening match, Michael White secured a slim 5-4 lead over Mark Williams in an all-Welsh clash. A nervous looking White calmed his nerves by hitting a break of 82 in the opener. He then went onto win three of the next four to lead Williams 4-1. However the two-times World Champion hit back with three in a row to draw level but his 21-year-old understudy snatched the last frame of the night to secure the lead overnight.