Tournament favorite Ronnie O'Sullivan established a commanding seven-frame lead over Chinese ace Ding Junhui in yesterday's eagerly-awaited first-round clash at the snooker World Championship.

O'Sullivan blew away Ding as he powered to within two frames of a place in the next round by establishing a deserved 8-1 lead at Sheffield's famous Crucible Theatre.

This year's Masters champion continued where he left off when he beat the 20-year-old 10-3 at the Wembley Arena in January. Chigwell's finest rattled in breaks of 58, 50, 48, 109, 60, 63, 63, 70 and 45 to leave debutant Ding staring defeat full in the face.

This year's Northern Ireland Trophy winner did reduce his arrears to 5-1 with a superb 103 break, but O'Sullivan wasted little time in reeling off the final three frames of the session to put himself in control of the pair's best-of-19 frame match.

The duo resume their match Monday afternoon and, unless Ding can produce some of the snooker which saw him beat O'Sullivan 9-6 in the Northern Ireland Trophy final in August, then two-time Crucible king O'Sullivan looks almost certain to reach the next phase.

Last year's runner-up Peter Ebdon requires just one frame to secure his place in the second round but the 2002 champion must wait until tonight to conclude his first round match with Nigel Bond, with their match postponed because it was in danger of delaying the afternoon session.

Ebdon trailed 5-4 overnight to Bond after his opponent reeled off five frames on the bounce having been 4-0 down. But the Dubai-based potter hit back Sunday in the pair's second session, edging 9-7 ahead and within touching distance of a place in the second phase.

In the other morning session match, Dubliner Fergal O'Brien and Dartford's Barry Hawkins were deadlocked at 4-4. Left-hander Hawkins, a former Grand Prix semi-finalist, led 2-0, the highlight of which was a 58 break, before qualifier O'Brien reduced his arrears by pinching the third frame on points 58-57.

Hawkins won the next despite a break of 47 from O'Brien, before his opponent won the next two, pocketing a 66 break in the sixth frame to make it 3-3.

The seventh frame lasted more than half an hour, but Hawkins won it on points 79-46 by potting the final blue ball, only for Irishman O'Brien to win the final frame of the session thanks to a break of 63.

The duo should have completed nine frames, but their match was also pulled off early as organisers feared a clash with the start of O'Sullivan against Ding and veterans Steve Davis and John Parrott.

(China Daily via timesonline.co.uk April 23, 2007)