Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan (picture) moved a first step nearer the sixth world title that would give him equal footing with Steve Davis and Ray Reardon after a no-frills opening 10-4 win against Robin Hull at the Crucible last night. O'Sullivan was straight into an ominous groove, with the contest proving as one-sided as 39-year-old Hull, the world number 122, must have privately feared. Topping and tailing the schedule on day one of the championship, O’Sullivan ploughed in a total clearance of 124 in the second frame, adding 69, 81, 60 and 90 before heading to lunch 7-2 ahead. Hull took advantage of a safety error from O’Sullivan to go 65-30 ahead in the evening’s opener, but missed a red that would have made the frame safe. O’Sullivan forged an opening and took the frame. Hull took the next two, but order was soon restored and O’Sullivan inked himself in for round two with no further fuss, finishing with a 54 break.
Golf: Englishman Andy Sullivan fired a six-under-par 66 to cut Lee Westwood’s lead to one shot after the third round of the European Tour’s Malaysian Open yesterday. Former no.1 Westwood led by four strokes overnight but could only manage a 71 in sweltering conditions in Kuala Lumpur after bogeying the last for a three-day total of 14-under. Sullivan climbed up the leaderboard to move three strokes ahead of France’s Julien Quesne in third on 10-under.
Boxing: Jamie McDonnell was given the opportunity of becoming world champion for a second time after it was announced he would fight for the vacant WBA bantamweight title on the undercard of the Carl Froch-George Groves rematch. McDonnell was stripped of the IBF crown he won by defeating then unbeaten Mexican Julio Ceja in Doncaster in May last year, but will now be given another chance to become world champion once more when he takes on Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat on May 31.
Cricket: Peter Moores was named England head coach for a second time yesterday as the country’s cricket board continued their overhaul of the side humiliated 5-0 in the Ashes series by Australia. The 51-year-old succeeded Zimbabwean Andy Flower, who stepped down after five years in charge following the Ashes whitewash Down Under in January. Moores coached England for two years from 2007.
Tennis: Rafael Nadal was “hurt” after his stunning loss to David Ferrer in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters on Friday. The ‘King of Clay’ was hoping to recapture the title he has won eight times, but was shocked by his fellow Spaniard as Ferrer won 7-6 6-4. “Losing hurts everywhere. On clay always a little bit more,” Nadal said. “I am not happy about what I did. Not very happy about the way that I played the second set after losing the first. I gave him a big opportunity at the beginning of the second... I cannot do that.”