Welsh Open: Ronnie O’Sullivan advances to second round after scrappy win against Oliver Lines in Llandudno

Ronnie O’Sullivan proceeds to the next round of the Welsh Open after beating Oliver Lines 4-0 in the first round in Llandudno. Despite the resounding scoreline, O’Sullivan wasn’t at his sharpest on the day, but took advantage of Lines’ continuously poor positional play to reach the second round. Ad He took a while to find his rhythm, but once he did he fired a break of 91 in the fourth frame to eliminate his compatriot.

Welsh OpenWelsh Open 2023 — Latest scores, results, schedule, order of playYESTERDAY AT 09:19 Jimmy White — on Eurosport punditry duty — said: “[He’s] definitely not match sharp, but he still produced.” O’Sullivan had the chance to take charge early on when Lines missed the black after putting away the first red of the match, but a disappointing ricochet off the black from O’Sullivan led him to play a loose safety ball to spread the pack. From there Lines notched up a 34-12 lead, but as White had analysed in the Eurosport studio pre-match, he became too tactical as he ran out of position early in the break. His break lasted to 33 and led to a snooker behind the yellow, which O’Sullivan struggled to wriggle out of without leaving a red on.

But despite Lines’ effort to follow up with a blue to the middle left, he made a hash of the open pack of reds. O’Sullivan took control of the first frame, making intelligent use of the yellow, blue and pink to finish off the final two reds and nick the opener with a 51 clearance up to the black. Again Lines struggled to make a demanding impact at the beginning of the second frame.