O’Sullivan beats Williams to make it seven in a row

Ronnie O’Sullivan won his seventh consecutive ranking event match with a 4-1 thumping of home favourite Mark Williams at the Welsh Open.

After going 29 months without winning a ranking event, O’Sullivan is now chasing back-to-back victories and has followed up his German Masters triumph with a flying start in South Wales. He took just 63 minutes to see off world no 2 Williams and set up a quarter-final meeting with Judd Trump or Stuart Bingham today.

In a blistering start to the match, O’Sullivan made a break of 125 to win the first frame before Williams responded with a 133. Cwm cueman Williams was among the balls first in frame three but could only make 21 and his opponent rattled in a 96 to go 2-1 ahead.

Williams had a clear chance to level the match in the fourth frame but missed a red with the rest leading 49-23, allowing O’Sullivan to clear up with 45. Once again there were chances for Williams in the fifth, but he only managed 28 points from four scoring opportunities, and O’Sullivan finally punished him with a run of 56.

“Mark has been very consistent over the past year, but we all have bad days,” said O’Sullivan. “I’m just trying to go out and concentrate and give it my best shot, and I’m enjoying competing. (Psychiatrist) Steve Peters has really helped me because without him I probably wouldn’t be playing.

“I wasn’t worried about dropping out of the top 16. But it would have been a challenge to have to qualify for the World Championship and I was looking forward to it in some respects. I never felt as if I should be ranked 17th or 18th and I had to be patient and wait for the form to come.”

Stephen Maguire, who lost to O’Sullivan in the Berlin final, made it a bad day for the Welsh as he beat Matthew Stevens 4-2.

Mark Allen scored his second 4-0 win over a a former world champion, following up his whitewash of Ken Doherty by beating Stephen Hendry.