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

O'Sullivan's win was a boost after losing the recent Masters final

Former champion Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Stuart Bingham 5-1 to reach the second round of the Welsh Open on Tuesday.

The world number one cruised into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 56, 66 and 89 and although Bingham briefly rallied, O'Sullivan was never really threatened.

Mark King defeated Marcus Campbell 5-1, Mark Allen beat Tom Ford 5-2, Matthew Stevens beat Shaun Murphy 5-4 and Stephen Maguire edged Dominic Dale 5-4.

Stephen Hendry thrashed Dave Harold 5-1 and Ryan Day edged past Tony Drago 5-4.

O'Sullivan was in action in the first session and he looked well in control as he strolled through the first three frames.

Bingham cut the deficit in a scrappy fourth frame after an error in safety from the world number one, and had chances to also take the fifth.

606: DEBATE Who are you backing to win the Welsh Open?

But after the Basildon player missed a red and a black in quick succession, O'Sullivan cleared the colours, including a brilliant green along the side cushion.

O'Sullivan sealed the match with a break of 82 which climaxed with an exhibition pink and a final shot which sent both white and black careering off the table.

Welshman Stevens led 2-0 in his encounter with Murphy before the Englishman mounted a stirring comeback to take a 3-2 lead.

A break of 40 helped Stevens level at 3-3 and with the next two frames shared the match went to a decider.

Murphy looked set for round two after roaring into a 51-0 lead but Stevens fought back and a superb clearance of 75 was enough for him to secure a last-16 clash with Allen.

The other match in the second session also went the distance, with world number two Maguire scraping past Dale.

Maguire led 3-0 and 4-1 but Dale fought his way back to 4-4, only for a scrappy decider to go the way of Maguire.

In the second round the Scotsman will face Barry Hawkins, who thrashed Peter Ebdon 5-0.

Northern Irishman Allen claimed half-century breaks in five successive frames - 58, 56, 52, 64 and 61 - to sink Leicester's Ford.

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 5-1 Stuart Bingham
Mark Allen 5-2 Tom Ford
Mark King 5-1 Marcus Campbell
Dominic Dale 4-5 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy 4-5 Matthew Stevens
Stephen Hendry 5-1 David Harold
Ryan Day 5-4 Tony Drago

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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