Welsh Open 2022 - Ronnie O’Sullivan works hard for win over Lukas Kleckers to set up Ding Junhui clash

Updated 03/03/2022 at 00:09 GMT

After being beaten in the final of the European Masters on Sunday evening, Ronnie O'Sullivan is up and running once again at the Welsh Open. After seeing off James Cahill on Tuesday, the six-time world champion was tested before getting the better of Germany's Lukas Kleckers at the Celtic Manor Resort on Newport.

‘Good pot!’ – O’Sullivan takes aim from range

Ronnie O’Sullivan married excellent break-building and hard snooker to see off Lukas Kleckers 4-2 and reach the last-32 of the Welsh Open.

Kleckers caused the Rocket problems in Newport, as he held a lead at one stage and threatened to move within one frame of victory, but O’Sullivan took a chance that presented itself in the fifth and it set him on the way to victory and a meeting with Ding Junhui.

After taking a mere 43 minutes to dispose of James Cahill in the previous round, it was rather different against Kleckers.

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The opening frame was a scrappy affair, which eventually went O’Sullivan’s way after 28 minutes. After some wayward pots, he sealed the opener with an excellent long red into the bottom right.

The second frame produced the first passage of fluent play, but it came from the methodical game of Kleckers rather than the quicksilver arm of O’Sullivan.

He was fortunate to get in, as a lucky flick left O’Sullivan snookered behind the brown. He escaped, but left Kleckers a chance and the German killed off the frame in a single visit with a confident run of 73.

Kleckers is not fazed by taking on big names, having secured wins over the likes of Neil Robertson and Mark Selby, and he pounced on an O’Sullivan error to move ahead.

As in the second, it wasn’t pretty to watch as Kleckers took plenty of time over his shots, leaving O'Sullivan fiddling with his watch in his chair, but the method worked as a break of 75 was enough to take a 2-1 lead.

While the third was won in steady rather than spectacular fashion, the fourth went by in a blur as O’Sullivan got in and a 67 helped put him back on level terms.

Kleckers had a big chance to move ahead again, but lost position from red to blue and missed the cutback.

It wasn’t an easy table that O’Sullivan inherited, but he picked off the loose reds and brilliantly developed the final red on his way to a frame-winning contribution of 67.

Kleckers had a frustrated look on his face after seeing O’Sullivan take the fifth, and his mood was not improved as the six-time world champion knocked in a break of 50 in the sixth.

It came as a surprise when O'Sullivan missed a pink when on the verge of victory, but he got in again to close out the contest.

Mark Williams may have crashed out, but Jak Jones continues to fly the flag for Wales after beating Zhao Xintong, one of the players of the season, 4-3. He did it in impressive fashion with a superb 77 in the final frame sealing his passage to the last 32 where he will face Hossein Vafaei.

Shaun Murphy continues to battle with a back complaint, but he was able to produce the goods to see off Anthony Hamilton 4-1 and set up a meeting with Ryan Day who bat Zak Surety by the same scoreline.

Yan Bingtao cruised to a 4-0 win over Zhao Jianbo to set up a clash with Ricky Walden who beat Noppon Saengjham 4-1.