Rocket Ron keeps World Championship dream alive (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Rocket Ron keeps World Championship dream alive

5:20pm Thursday 24th April 2008 in Sport

RONNIE O'Sullivan kept his World Championship dream alive after setting up a second round tie against Welshman Mark Williams with an impressive second session performance against Lui Chaung, writes James Randall.

With a tentative overnight 5-4 in this first round match at the Crucible the young Chinese player may have felt he had a chance, but he came up against an much improved O'Sullivan who easily wrapped up the result.

The former Wanstead High School pupil hit breaks of 61 and 65, either side of a frame-winning 53 from Lui to open up an 8-5 lead.

The Ongar man then missed an opportunity to clear in pursuit of a 147 in frame 14, having already notched up seven reds and seven blacks, but went on to win the 14th frame regardless.

Lui was not without opportunities to pull himself back into the tie, but failed to punish any sloppy play from O'Sullivan, who took the final frame 70-59 to progress.

It was a different story from what the packed Crucible audience had seen yesterday, with O'Sullivan losing a three frame lead to only have the one frame margin overnight.

Speaking after to the BBC, the Rocket said: "I was just pleased to get the first round out of the way and get over the line."