Welsh Open: World and Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan makes early progress
Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised to a routine win against amateur Mitchell Travis to reach the second round of the Welsh Open.
Last Updated: 19/02/14 11:22pm
The reigning World and Masters champion was relatively untroubled to progress with a 4-1 win at the Newport Centre.
The 38-year-old will next meet Norfolk potter Barry Pinches after he dispatched Nigel Bond by the same scoreline.
O'Sullivan potted pink and black to take a tight opener after Travis had come from 53 down to lead, and extended his lead to 3-0 with the help of an 81 break in the third.
Travis, who became a crowd favourite in his run to round three of December's UK Championship and spoke of his love of the big arena, got his moment in the spotlight when he took the fourth frame but O'Sullivan closed out victory in the next.
Maguire recovery
Defending champion Stephen Maguire lost the opening frame to Elliott Slessor but recovered quickly to win 4-1 helped by breaks of 79 and 98.
China's Ding Junhui made a 121 break in the first frame against Gary Wilson, completing a 4-2 win with runs of 57, 77 and 82.
Ali Carter, the 2009 champion, was in clinical form as he beat Andrew Norman 4-1 with a 115 break along the way.
But 2003 UK Champion Matthew Stevens had to battle all the way against Adam Wicheard. The Welshman won 4-3 with a 50 break in the decider, his third half-century of the match.
Scott Donaldson, the hotly-tipped youngster from Perth, claimed a notable scalp with a 4-2 win over world No 12 Robert Milkins.
Jimmy Robertson beat Belgian prospect Luca Brecel 4-2 and there were wins by the same scoreline for Gerard Greene, David Gilbert and Sam Baird against Li Yan, Duane Jones and Robbie Williams respectively.
Andrew Higginson beat Martin O'Donnell 4-1 including a break of 100 and Jamie Cope hammered Ryan Clark by the same score, while Andrew Pagett inflicted the day's only whitewash on Marcus Campbell.
Mike Dunn beat Aditya Mehta 4-3 and Ian Burns edged out Yu De Lu, also in a decider.