World Snooker Championship

Ronnie O`Sullivan defeats Steadman 
and now waits a Welsh in the Last 16

Today saw the conclusion of Ronnie O`Sullivan's match against debutant Craig Steadman, and The Rocket (whose first part of the match was yesterday) didn't really need to work so hard today and now have plenty of time to watch the Welsh Clash between Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens to check out who's gonna be his next "victim".

In the first session yesterday, O`Sullivan started on fire, made a century break in the First frame, a 104 which was a 147 attempt missed in the penultimate red. The Rocket followed that with a 61 to add another frame but Craig Steadman - who really impressed with how well he could be in the safety game - put a frame on the board with a good 71 Break in the third to close at 1-2.

But then O`Sullivan got the next two frames with a Top Break of 48 but knew if those long safety battles continued he could be fighting until the end of the match, so he started going for his shots and avoid safety battles, and despite Craig pulled one back at 4-2 The Rocket won the next three with Breaks of 59, 54 and 75 to increase his lead to 7(19)2 at the interval.

Players resumed today and Ronnie O`Sullivan was far from the form he showed yesterday but Craig Steadman missed a few crucial balls and decided not to take many risks so wasn't able to dig deep and O`Sullivan quickly sealed the match 10-3 with a Top Break of "only" 54 for the last session.

O`Sullivan said afterwards: "For me it's just about trying to build some momentum, If I've got a chance of winning this tournament then that's what I'll need to do.

When you're thinking [about winning the tournament] you just want to get over the line, then you're going to struggle to win tournaments.I'm experienced enough now to know it's a process: each match, each ball, you become stronger and stronger or you become weaker and weaker."

Elsewhere, Ali Carter had an impressive 10-5 victory against Scot Alan McManus and said he's here to win, but if he's really to do that he's gotta to defeat Neil Robertson who will be fancying the job either, coming from a 10-2 win over Jamie Jones in which he scored 3 centuries including 133 and 143 (highest of the tournament so far).

Mark Allen recovered from a slow start and won 9 frames in a row to dispatch Welshman Ryan Day 10-3 and now faces Barry Hawkins, who survived a nightmare against Matthew Selt. Selt was trailing 9-4 but won 5 frames with five +50 Breaks including a back-to-back centuries but missed a tricky red in the decider and never got another chance.

Ding Junhui avoided another First Round exit at the Crucible, as he played his best Snooker of the year against Mark Davis in the second session of the match which he won 10-7. The Chinese rising star will face John Higgins. Meanwhile Stuart Bingham beat Robbie Williams in a non- high standard match which his opponent said he felt "horrendous" to lose. The player nicknamed Ballrun now meets 2006 Champion Graeme Dott.

Matches in progress include Derby clash between Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens, and Stevens - runner-up to Williams in 2000 - is getting his revenge as he built a 7(19)2 lead for today's conclusion, winner plays Ronnie O`Sullivan in the Last 16. Joe Perry played this morning against Zhang Anda - who's cameback to the Crucible after 10 years - and the Englishman built an impressive 8-1 lead.

Last 16 (Best of 25):

Mark Selby vs Anthony McGill
Perry/Anda vs Murphy/Hull
Barry Hawkins vs Mark Allen
Ali Carter vs Neil Robertson

Ding Junhui vs John Higgins
Marco Fu vs Trump/Carrington
Graeme Dott vs Stuart Bingham
Williams/Stevens vs Ronnie O`Sullivan

Draw | Match Times

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