Rocket romps through to round two

Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised into the second round of the Pukka Pies UK Championship with a 9-3 win over Matthew Stevens.

O'Sullivan trailed 2-0 in the afternoon session but won nine of the next 10 frames against the former world championship finalist.

Stevens had made it 3-3 with a break of 101 but missed simple pots to the middle pocket in each of the next two frames and O'Sullivan stepped in with breaks of 74 and 78 to lead 5-3 going into this evening's session.

The four-time UK champion went further ahead with a break of 75 and a run of 60 in the next made it 7-3.

The 11th frame turned into a protracted safety battle with the scores at 70-70 until O'Sullivan potted the brown, blue and pink to move within one frame of victory. And the former world champion duly took the next frame to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

Four second round matches were already under way and, in the pick of them, Mark Selby claimed a 5-3 lead over Stephen Hendry.

Selby fired in three century breaks, including total clearances of 132 and 141, but could not fully shake off seven-time world champion Hendry.

The Scot had a good chance to get out of the session level at 4-4 but Selby compiled a break of 69 for a two-frame cushion.

Elsewhere, Scotland's Stephen Maguire claimed a 6-2 lead over Stuart Bingham and China's Liang Wenbo outplayed Mark King to lead 7-1.

The match between Neil Robertson and John Higgins was a much closer affair, Higgins leading 5-3 after the opening session.