Welsh Open Snooker 2016: Updated Scores, Draw, Schedule After Monday's Results
Ronnie O'Sullivan deliberately threw away a maximum break as a protest at the level of prize money on offer as he raced through the first round at the 2016 Welsh Open Snooker on Monday, defeating Barry Pinches 4-1.
O'Sullivan had the chance of a 147, but he opted for a pink to clear 146 in protest at the £10,000 jackpot for achieving snooker's maximum. He'll be joined in the next round by defending champion John Higgins, who demolished Andy Hicks 4-0 to book a spot in the next round.
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There will be no place for Stephen Maguire in Round 2 after he crashed out to Martin O'Donnell 4-3. Ricky Walden was also forced to survive a strong test from Thailand's James Wattana to emerge with a 4-3 triumph in his Welsh Open bow.
Mark Selby swept aside Duane Jones 4-0, Barry Hawkins also progressed as he eased past Lee Walker 4-2 and Marco Fu beat Joel Walker in a whitewash at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.
Judd Trump routed Michael Leslie 4-0 to advance on Monday evening, but Stuart Bingham was a surprise casualty of the first round after falling to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Anthony Hamilton.
Trump will be joined in the next round by Ali Carter and Mark Williams after the pair clinched wins over Chinese contenders Cao Yupeng and Lu Chenwei, respectively.
Here are all the results from Monday's opening round:
| Stephen Maguire | 3-4 | Martin O'Donnell |
| Robbie Williams | 4-3 | Luke Simmonds |
| Fergal O'Brien | 4-3 | Noppon Saengkham |
| Gary Wilson | 4-1 | Jimmy White |
| Tom Ford | 4-1 | Jason Weston |
| Mike Dunn | 4-3 | Chris Wakelin |
| Xiao Guodong | 1-4 | James Cahill |
| Mark King | 4-0 | Scott Donaldson |
| Mark Davis | 4-2 | Zhao Xintong |
| Barry Hawkins | 4-2 | Lee Walker |
| Ross Muir* | w/o | Jamie Burnett |
| Marco Fu | 4-0 | Joel Walker |
| Mark Selby | 4-0 | Duane Jones |
| Ding Junhui | 4-1 | Steven Hallworth |
| Peter Ebdon | 4-0 | Zhang Anda |
| Andrew Higginson | 2-4 | Daniel Wells |
| Matthew Selt | 4-0 | Nigel Bond |
| Gerard Greene | 3-4 | Sydney Wilson |
| Graeme Dott | 4-1 | Darryl Hill |
| Zhou Yuelong | 2-4 | Mitchell Mann |
| Sam Baird | 4-2 | Thor Chuan Leong |
| Anthony McGill | 4-3 | Liam Highfield |
| Ronnie O'Sullivan | 4-1 | Barry Pinches |
| Michael White | 4-3 | Joe O'Connor |
| Jamie Jones | 0-4 | Michael Georgiou |
| Liang Wenbo | 4-0 | Hatem Yassen |
| Ricky Walden | 4-3 | James Wattana |
| Luca Brecel | 4-3 | Ian Burns |
| Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | 4-2 | Paul S. Davison |
| Rod Lawler | 4-3 | Sanderson Lam |
| Kyren Wilson | 3-4 | Leo Fernandez |
| Kurt Maflin | 4-3 | Hammad Miah |
| Mark Williams | 4-3 | Lyu Chenwei |
| Ryan Day | 4-0 | Vinnie Calabrese |
| Jack Lisowski | 4-2 | Eden Sharav |
| Mark Allen | 4-0 | Sam Craigie |
| Robert Milkins | 4-3 | Sean O'Sullivan |
| Yu De Lu | 4-3 | Ian Glover |
| David Gilbert | 4-0 | Zhang Yong |
| Ken Doherty | 4-0 | Lu Ning |
| Michael Holt | 4-3 | Hamza Akbar |
| Ali Carter | 4-1 | Cao Yupeng |
| Joe Swail | 4-1 | Zak Surety |
| John Higgins | 4-0 | Andy Hicks |
| Neil Robertson | 4-3 | Fraser Patrick |
| Shaun Murphy | 4-1 | Itaro Santos |
| Dechawat Poomjaeng | 4-1 | Craig Steadman |
| Martin Gould | 4-1 | Adam Duffy |
| Li Hang | 4-0 | Chris Melling |
| Ben Woollaston | 4-0 | Jamie Cope |
| Stuart Carrington | 4-0 | Jordan Brown |
| Oliver Lines | 1-4 | Allan Taylor |
| Tian Pengfei | 4-2 | Ashley Hugill |
| Rory McLeod | 4-3 | Michael Wasley |
| Alan McManus | 4-3 | Rhys Clark |
| Stuart Bingham | 1-4 | Anthony Hamilton |
| Judd Trump | 4-0 | Michael Leslie |
| Joe Perry | 4-0 | Tony Drago |
| Dominic Dale | 3-4 | Alfie Burden |
| Matthew Stevens | 4-2 | David Morris |
The full schedule and draw for Round 2 can be found here.
Monday Recap
O'Sullivan claimed the opening frame of his match with Pinches courtesy of a half-century, before his opponent replied with an impressive 70.
Rocket moved ahead once again despite some sloppy play in the third frame and cemented his lead with a 64 break. Snooker writer Jay Shaw was unimpressed:
In a spectacular final frame, O'Sullivan passed up the chance at a perfect 147, per Shaw:
See the full frame here:
Per Live Snooker, he said:
Selby, who claimed the title in 2008, barely broke a sweat as he overcame Jones, sealing the win with an 80 break in the last frame.
Maguire triumphed in Wales in 2013, but his search for a second title in the competition will go on for at least another year as he suffered a surprise early exit at the hands of O'Donnell.
Pro Snooker Blog's Matt Huart noted how tight the contest was, with Maguire holding the narrowest of leads in the final frame with the players evenly matched at 3-3:
A strong final push from the Englishman sealed the victory, per Huart:
O'Donnell will face either Matthew Stevens or David Morris in Round 2.
In the evening session, Higgins masterminded a 4-0 thrashing over Hicks to soar into the second round of this year's Welsh Open, where he's hoping to claim a fourth title in the space of seven years.
The opening frame of their encounter proved to be the tightest as Hicks picked up 39 points, but Higgins rallied to collect breaks of 74, 80 and 100 in the ensuing frames in an ever-improving performance.
Higgins also gave his views on O'Sullivan's defiance earlier in the day via BetVictor's post-match Periscope interview, responding by saying Rocket "has enough money, hasn't he?"
World No. 2 Bingham fell to a convincing 4-1 loss at the hands of Nottingham native Hamilton, who capped off a tremendous victory by coming back from 71 points down to bank a clearance of 72, as shown by Snooker Room:
It was a brilliant was for the Sheriff of Pottingham to end a tough opener in the Welsh capital, and although Bingham was far from his best, Hamilton was deserving of full credit for the fashion in which he took the fight to the world champion.
Trump faced a slightly less threatening opponent in the shape of 23-year-old Leslie, and the Bristolian was asked by BetVictor's Jack Jacob Milner to also give his take on O'Sullivan's controversy earlier in the day:
The highlight of Trump's opening salvo was a clearance of 124 to go along with another strong break of 52, ending two of his four frames with response from Leslie, who was clearly out of his depth on the day.
Former world No. 2 Carter rattled past China's Cao with a 4-1 win in the Welsh capital to set up a second-round tie opposite Fergal O'Brien.
Speaking with BetVictor via Periscope after his win, Carter spoke of the sheer size of the 128-player tournament and said he was "just delighted to get through" the first phase of the contest in Wales.
Walden was pushed to the brink by Wattana on Monday in what turned out to be a far tighter affair than many might have envisioned, and Live Snooker confirmed his victory via decider:
The Walnut ran to a 2-0 lead over former world No. 3 Wattana, but the Thai contender eventually fought back to trail 3-2 before tying the scores, but he fell at the final hurdle following a long respite before the deciding frame.
Current world No. 14 Williams was also far from convincing in his 4-3 victory against Lu, allowing his opponent to climb level at three frames apiece before finally putting the finishing touches on a first-round win.
Mr Boom Bets claimed Lu had failed to win even one frame in each of his last three games prior to Monday's meeting, and fan Jeff Walker Lee expressed his disappointment in Lu's televised performance:
"Lyu Chenwei is probably the worst pro snooker player I've ever seen on TV. #WelshOpenSnooker
— Jeff Walker Lee (@celticshk) February 15, 2016"
Liang Wenbo was among the stars to advance on Monday after he thundered past Hatem Yassan 4-0, although emerging Englishman Gary Wilson promises to pose a stiffer task in the next round.
Australian Neil Robertson and Joe Perry also advanced through to the second round after defeating Fraser Patrick and Tony Drago by scorelines of 4-3 and 4-0, respectively.
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