The Rocket Into Round Two

Ronnie O’Sullivan certainly set out his intentions at this weeks Welsh Open, he demolished some time practice partner Stuart Bingham 5-1 to set up a second tie with either Ding Junhui or Jamie Cope.

The Rocket, who lost a tense Masters final earlier in January, is the tournament favourite and with a performance like todays certainly looks in the right frame of mind to win another Welsh Open title.

Breaks of 56, 66 and 89 gave O’Sullivan a 3-0 lead and it should really have been 4-0 at the interval except for a poor safety on the last red. Bingham duly cleared the table to trail 3-1.

O’Sullivan looked comfortable throughout and it was Binghams failure to get over the line which meant O’Sullivan often had chances. In the sixth frame Bingham led by 39 points only to see Ronnie make a nice 82 clearance that wrapped up frame and match.

He looked confident and assured but was rarely tested in this first round encounter and it will be interesting to see how he fairs in the next round when he will be facing tougher opposition.

Two Marks also booked their spots in round two, Mark Allen beat Leicester’s Tom Ford 5-2 and Mark King beat Marcus Campbell 5-1 after a second frame that lasted 63-minutes.