Malta’s Tony Drago was eliminated in the first round yesterday as he lost his match to Barry Hawkins 5-1.

Meanwhile, world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan had a difficult start and could have easily gone 3-1 down to Bjorn Haneveer by the end of the first session. But a 40 clearance in the fourth frame saw him battling back and then was almost totally in command in the second session as he strolled on to win 5-3.

Embassy world champion Shaun Murphy scored an impressive 5-2 win over Mark Selby, as did Chris Norbury against James Wattana, while Gerard Green, who beat Alex Borg in the qualifying round, made another step forward, beating Stephen Lee 5-0.

Other results: A. Hamilton-J. Jogia 5-1; J. Cope-J. Perry 5-3; D. Gray-M. Allen 5-2.