World Snooker Championship: Liang Wenbo trails Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan dumps out debutant Mark Joyce
- China’s Liang Wenbo 3-6 down against Australian Neil Robertson
- Ronnie O’Sullivan makes easy work of Mark Joyce
Two Chinese players were in action in the first round of play on the opening day of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield on Saturday.
Liang Wenbo, the Chinese No 5 and 2016 English Open champion, trails former world champion Neil Robertson 3-6 after the opening session of play. All first round matches are best of 19.
The Australian flew out of the traps and was always in front. There was a glimmer of a fightback in the final frame of the day; Liang cleared a superb 126 to get within three frames of the 2010 world champion.
Elsewhere, the reigning Masters champion Yan Bingtao was locked in a tight match against England’s Martin Gould with the clash deadlocked at 4-4 after the opening session.
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In a back-and-forth match, Yan was off to a quick start before being pegged back by the 39-year-old Gould. Yan secured the final frame of the day to make it all square heading into the second day of the match.
Meanwhile, defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan made light work of Crucible debutant Mark Joyce, dispatching the 37-year-old Walsall man.
O’Sullivan hit his stride towards the end of the match and hit consecutive clearances of 124, 137 and 112 to seal the match.
After a low-quality opening session, it was vintage O’Sullivan to seal the match as he became only the eighth player to make three consecutive Crucible centuries.
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“I was pleased I played all right towards the end. It was disastrous until then,” O’Sullivan said.
“It was great to have the crowd in there, they miss their snooker and I probably would have given up mentally in that match if there was no crowd there.”
The world No 2’s match marked the first time spectators had been allowed into a sporting event in the UK in 2021, but earlier on Saturday, O’Sullivan reported being “harassed” by a fan while having lunch in Sheffield.
“I was harassed like you wouldn’t believe it,” O’Sullivan said. “Ninety-nine per cent of the people are fine but it’s just the odd one who was a bit boozed up and having a mental one.
“It was so busy and this geezer was a nightmare. He was ****** up and coming at me and I was like, ‘mate, please.’ What can you do? I’ve got to stay indoors and stay away.”
In round two O’Sullivan will face the winner of the match between Scotland’s Anthony McGill and Englishman Ricky Walden, which gets underway today.
