WELSH OPEN SNOOKER
Venue: Newport Centre Date: Monday 25 - Sunday, 31 January
Coverage: Exclusively live on BBC TWO Wales and online, plus score updates on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 live and online

Carter did not need to hit top form against Davis

Defending champion Ali Carter eased into the second round of the Welsh Open with a 5-1 win over Mark Davis.

Carter took the first frame with a 120 break and only needed a second-highest break of 57 to finish the job.

Former world champion Peter Ebdon was whitewashed by Barry Hawkins, while world number nine Neil Robertson beat China's Liu Song 5-2.

Widnes potter Andrew Higginson also reached the second round with a 5-2 win over world number eight Marco Fu.

Qualifier Matthew Stevens reached the first round after a 5-4 win over Barry Pinches.

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Higginson caused a stir in the same tournament in 2007 when as a 500-1 outsider he reached the final, where he lost a final-frame decider to Robertson.

And Higginson had too much for Fu, racing into a 4-1 lead and holding off a minor fightback by the Hong Kong star to book his place in round two.

Hawkins's 5-0 thrashing of 2002 world champion Ebdon was one of the best wins of the 30-year-old's career.

A break of 85 in the first frame set the tone and the world number 17 soon raced into a 3-0 lead.

Even an Ebdon break of 50 was not enough to win the fourth frame as Hawkins replied with a break of 64.

Hawkins closed out the match with a 33 clearance in the fifth and the man from Dartford, who has never won a ranking tournament but has twice been a semi-finalist in the Welsh Open, kept his dream alive of success at the Newport Centre.

World number nine Robertson is ranked 50 places above his Chinese opponent and it certainly showed in the opening frame as he outscored Song 134-0.

Song hit back and tied the match at 2-2, but Robertson turned the match decisively in his favour with a break of 129 in the fifth frame and never looked back.

WELSH OPEN DRAW

MONDAY

Qualifier
Matthew Stevens 5-4 Barry Pinches

Round One
Neil Robertson 5-2 Liu Song
Peter Ebdon 0-5 Barry Hawkins
Ali Carter 5-1 Mark Davies
Marco Fu 2-5 Andrew Higginson

TUESDAY

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Stuart Bingham (1300 GMT)
Mark Allen v Tom Ford (1300 GMT)
Mark King v Marcus Campbell (1300 GMT)
Dominic Dale v Stephen Maguire (1500 GMT)
Shaun Murphy v Matthew Stevens/Barry Pinches (1500 GMT)
Stephen Hendry v David Harold (1900 GMT)
Ryan Day v Tony Drago (1900 GMT)

WEDNESDAY
Ding Junhui v Jamie Cope (1300 GMT)
Mark Williams v Fergal O'Brien (1300 GMT)
Joe Perry v Graham Dott (1300 GMT)
Mark Selby v Judd Trump (1500 GMT)
John Higgins v Michael Judge (1500 GMT)

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