Ronnie O’Sullivan reaches Welsh Open second round with rapid win over James Cahill but Mark Williams goes out
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 01/03/2022 at 19:29 GMT
Ronnie O’Sullivan bounced back from the disappointment of losing Sunday’s European Masters final in style. ‘The Rocket’ did not drop a frame against James Cahill, the amateur who famously beat him at the World Championship three years ago. Mark Williams however suffered a shock loss to Kurt Maflin. Stream the 2022 Welsh Open and much more top snooker action live and on demand on discovery+.
'Deserved so much more' - Delicious O'Sullivan shot delights commentators
Ronnie O’Sullivan bounced back in style with a swift 4-0 victory over James Cahill in the first round of the Welsh Open.
Two days after losing the European Masters final 10-9 to Fan Zhengyi, O’Sullivan was back in action in Newport.
He opened with breaks of 53 and 83 to take a 2-0 lead, and finished with a 90 to book a second-round meeting with Lukas Kleckers.
World number four Neil Robertson also progressed serenely - to the third round - but there was no such success for Mark Williams, who succumbed to Norwegian Kurt Maflin in a final-frame decider to exit the tournament.
O’Sullivan may have led the head-to-head 4-1 going into his meeting with Cahill, but it was the latter's famous 10-8 victory over ‘The Rocket’ at the 2019 World Championship that will have reminded the world No. 2 of his opponent’s capability to cause an upset.
Cahill had the first opening of the match after O’Sullivan’s first break clipped the blue, but he was only able to post eight on the board.
A safety error from Cahill then gifted O’Sullivan with a chance to seal the frame, and though he needed two visits a 53 was enough to edge in front.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2022/03/01/3329592-68072108-2560-1440.jpg)
‘Hard to say they got their money’s worth!’ – O’Sullivan progresses in one-hour blitz
Another safety exchange went O’Sullivan’s way in the second frame, and he punished Cahill with a rapid 83 after splitting the reds early on.
A superb long red helped O’Sullivan get going in the third frame, but his break of 47 was halted when a pink failed to drop into the middle pocket.
Cahill almost fluked a tricky black but only put one point on the board, and he was then left requiring snookers trailing by 53 with 51 remaining.
He soon fouled himself, however, accidentally potting a red as well as the blue, conceding the frame to move on the brink of defeat.
Cahill’s aggressive approach continued, but he was unable to pot a colour three times after potting reds before O’Sullivan sensed an opportunity to clear up.
He did so with a 90, sealing a resounding victory to reach the second round.
Robertson's performance was just as assured on Tuesday afternoon, racking up two century breaks as he eased past Hammad Miah 4-1.
The Australian got off the mark with a break of 64 which was enough to take the first frame, and then bettered that with a 101 in frame two.
Miah responded to take the third but Robertson saw off his opponent's threat to take the fourth and fifth, the latter with an impressive 119 break.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2022/02/24/3326617-68012608-2560-1440.jpg)
Neil Robertson
Image credit: Other Agency
Robertson will play the winner of Graeme Dott and Jamie Clarke in the third round.
There will be no place however for world number eight Williams in the remainder of the competition at Celtic Manor, after he crashed out at the hands of world number 33 Maflin.
Williams was off-colour in a scrappy opener, missing a number of reds to give his opponent the early advantage.
Maflin looked set to double his lead after getting in amongst the balls in the second frame, but he missed a simple brown allowing Williams to compile a frame-winning contribution of 57.
The Norwegian didn't let his profligacy cost him in the third however, rattling in a break of 60 to re-take the lead.
Williams looked to be ready to level once more but couldn't cut a difficult yellow, letting Maflin in - and the 38-year-old needed no second invitation, wrapping it up to go 3-1 ahead.
The Welsh wizard - playing on home turf - looked frustrated to find himself with a two-frame deficit, but he showed resolve to level it up at 3-3 as the match entered a decider.
But that just brought out the best in Maflin, who fired in a tremendous long red and a subsequent break of 74 to progress to the third round.
TODAY'S RESULTS & SCHEDULE
10am
- Mitchell Mann 4-1 Ben Hancorn
- Rory McLeod 3-4 Yuan SiJun
- Robbie Williams 3-4 Hossein Vafaei
- Ali Carter 4-1 Ng On Yee
1pm
- Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 James Cahill
- Ben Woollaston 4-3 Liang Wenbo
- Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Jamie Jones
- Ding Junhui 4-1 Michael Holt
2pm
- Neil Robertson 4-1 Hammad Miah
- Cao Yupeng 3-4 Joe Perry
- Mark Williams 3-4 Kurt Maflin
- Scott Donaldson 4-0 Andrew Pagett
7pm
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Fergal O'Brien
- Craig Steadman v Judd Trump
- Iulian Boiko v Mark Allen
- Mark Davis v Matthew Selt
8pm
- Zhang Anda v Mark Joyce
- John Higgins v Soheil Vahedi
- Chris Wakelin v Jack Lisowski
--
Stream the 2022 Welsh Open and much more top snooker action live and on demand on discovery+
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement