Ronnie O’Sullivan is through to the third round of the ManBet X Welsh Open after producing an “alright performance” to defeat Graeme Dott 4-0 on day three.
Following on from winning the World Grand Prix in Preston last week, the five-time world champion was handed a bye in the first round after Robin Hull withdrew for medical reasons, with Dott claiming a first-round 4-0 win over Sanderson Lam.
But O’Sullivan continued his excellent form on day three’s morning session, overcoming Dott’s 64-break to take the first frame and then barely putting a foot wrong for the following three.
“It was an alright performance,” said O’Sullivan, 42. “I played as well as I probably could play, my concentration was good, my mindset was good and I just tried to focus on every shot.
“Graeme is a top-quality player, he’s had some really good results this season so I know I had to be on my game.
“There’s always things you can work on, sometimes you have to accept that you’re playing the game as well as you possibly can, but there are others where you’re getting results but still feel you can build on the foundations and tweak a few things.
“There are some big tournaments coming up so I want to use a few other tournaments to build on some things.”
O’Sullivan will face David Grace on day four but elsewhere in the draw there were plenty more big-name exits on Wednesday, following on from former world champion Shaun Murphy’s defeat to Gerard Greene on Tuesday.
The biggest of those came in the evening session as World No.1 Mark Selby was stunned by China’s Liang Wenbo, 4-3, as he let a 3-2 lead slip in the early hours of the morning.In the other late match, John Higgins beat compatriot and former World No.2 Stephen Maguire 4-1.Earlier World No.3 Judd Trump faced Noppon Saengkham in the morning session but lost out 4-1 to the cueman from Thailand who sits 53 places below him in the world rankings.Former World Championship runner-up Nigel Bond also caused a huge upset by beating Ali Carter 4-3, whilst Swindon’s Liam Highfield delivered a terrific performance to down Ding Junghui 4-1.Neil Robertson also exited at the hands of Ian Burns, 4-3, but defending champion Stuart Bingham is through to play Matthew Stevens on day four after he overcame 16-year-old amateur Jackson Page 4-2.“He’s on a free roll, it’s a great experience for him to be able to play in a professional event and obviously he got a good win over my practice partner Sean O’Sullivan so it was going to be tough and the way the first frame went I was thinking the worst,” said Bingham.
“But I felt comfortable out there today and got my timing right.
“The best-of-sevens are a bit of a leveller for everyone but if you have an off-day people are good enough to beat you.
“I’m 4-2 in the end against a 16-year-old and the big names are going out, there’s still a few big names left in it so hopefully I can go a few sets further.”
Watch the Welsh Open LIVE on Eurosport, Eurosport Player and Quest with Andy Goldstein and analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Fould
“But I felt comfortable out there today and got my timing right.
“The best-of-sevens are a bit of a leveller for everyone but if you have an off-day people are good enough to beat you.
“I’m 4-2 in the end against a 16-year-old and the big names are going out, there’s still a few big names left in it so hopefully I can go a few sets further.”
Watch the Welsh Open LIVE on Eurosport, Eurosport Player and Quest with Andy Goldstein and analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Fould
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