O’Sullivan quick to prove point after racing into second round

It promises to be no more than a jog for the keen runner, compared to the sprint which saw him waltz to a 6-1 first-round win over Steve Davis yesterday at the william.hill.com UK Championship.

The six-time UK champion was quickest out of the blocks to snatch the first frame, but Davis could do little about what happened next, describing the match as ‘one-way traffic’.

O’Sullivan – who plans to mark his birthday by “going for a run, treat myself to a new pair of running trainers” – looked in determined mood to progress in York and pick up much-needed ranking points.

The three-time world champion has not won a full ranking event for over two years and his top-16 place is in jeopardy.

“In the end it was one-way traffic,” admitted Davis. “I thought Ronnie was cueing as well as I have ever seen him cue, he was hitting the ball beautifully.

“In the end I wasn’t good enough. I had a couple of chances, but when you make mistakes against the likes of Ronnie they are magnified. I made a few sloppy safety shots and he overpowered me in the end. I enjoyed the first frame,” he quipped.

O’Sullivan can sit back and enjoy his birthday, for he returns to action tomorrow when he plays the winner of today’s first-round match between Judd Trump and Dominic Dale.

“It was nice to get a win,” said O’Sullivan. “I made a few decent breaks, managed to nick a few frames.

“It’s nice to play Steve, even in a practice match, he hits the ball with such class. He’s probably not playing with as much confidence as he used to, that’s all.”

O’Sullivan started slowly allowing Davis to take that opening frame. But he gradually found his form, culminating in a 123 break to go 3-1 in front.

The interval didn’t knock the world No 14 out of his stride as he knocked in a 97 break, failing to pick up successive centuries when he ran out of position on the red.

But at 4-1 it looked ominous for 54-year-old Davis – a finalist back in 2006 – and O’Sullivan knocked in breaks of 32 and 34 to leave him just needing one more frame to book a second-round spot.

Davis had a couple of chances at the table in the seventh frame, but a missed red proved his undoing, and O’Sullivan swiftly wrapped up the match.

Stephen Maguire revived memories of his 2004 UK triumph at the York Barbican – beating David Gray 10-1 in the final – when he knocked out Stephen Hendry 6-3 in their first-round meeting.

A break of 122 helped Maguire go 2-0 ahead and he looked set in the third, when he led 55-0 but five-time UK champion Hendry replied with 81 to take it. A break of 66 put Maguire 3-1 ahead before Hendry – who went through qualifiers just to reach the televised stages in York after dropping out of the top 16 – levelled the match 3-3.

But then Maguire pulled away, breaks of 134, 90 and 52 setting up a second-round meeting with world champion John Higgins tomorrow.

“John will start strong favourite and I’ve got nothing to lose,” said Maguire. “The last few times we’ve played, he’s let me get ahead and then crushed me. At the moment he’s the best player in the world.

“York has been good to me, and when I look at some of the players who have won tournaments this season, I know I’m as good as them.”

World No 1 Mark Selby – who has already chalked up successes at the Wuxi Classic, Shanghai Masters and a Players Tour Championship (PTC) event this season – was in imperious form, whitewashing Ryan Day 6-0.

Searching for his first UK title, Leicester’s Selby compiled breaks of 86, 111, 90 and 69 to set-up a second-round match with Marco Fu, who beat Stuart Bingham 6-4.

“Ryan is a tough draw and I knew I would have to get on top of him from the word go,” said Selby.

“If I can keep playing well consistently then I can win more titles. There are so many good players now so to be introduced into the arena as the World No 1 felt great. There’s a lot of travelling on the circuit now which is tiring, but I enjoy playing snooker anywhere. A couple of years ago we were all crying out for more tournaments.”

Matthew Stevens eased to a 6-2 win over Marcus Campbell.

Leeds player Peter Lines went out at the first round hurdle, losing to Martin Gould 6-2 last night.

The Northern Snooker Centre-based cueman, 42, had struggled in the early exchanges to trail 4-1, but then found a bit of consistency and made a 60 clearance, his highest break of the evening.

Yet that was to be his last meaningful contribution as Gould stepped up a gear to head into the second round with breaks of 123 and 69.