O'Sullivan progresses to second round

Ronnie O'Sullivan moved into the second round of the world snooker championship yesterday but the three-times champion's progress past China's Liang Wenbo was less smooth than had been anticipated.

O'Sullivan, the favourite for this year's tournament, allowed a 9-3 lead slip to an advantage of 9-7 but he finally closed out his tie with a break of 73 to set up a second round meeting with Mark Williams.

Ding Junhui had earlier underlined his credentials as a serious contender to become China's first snooker world champion by storming into an 8-1 lead after the first session of his first round clash with Stuart Pettman yesterday.

Ding, 23, was left needing just two more frames today to seal his place in the last 16, where he will face either the 2005 champion and last year's runner-up Shaun Murphy or Gerard Greene.

The reigning UK champion has captured more ranking points than any other player on the tour this season and is being strongly backed to become the first world champion from outside Britain and Ireland since Canadian Cliff Thorburn in 1980.

He made breaks of 53, 77, 88 and 120 during a four-frame purple patch, before adding a run of 95 in the ninth, to the delight of his supporters in the Crucible crowd.

On the other table, England's Mark Davis secured himself a 5-4 overnight lead against Welshman Ryan Day, the world number six.