Stylish start for Carter

Carter: Easy win

Also see

• Snooker Schedule
• World Rankings
• Snooker DVDs

Defending champion Ali Carter booked his place in the second round of the Welsh Open with a 5-1 win over Mark Davis.

Carter began in style with a break of 120 in the opening frame and although Davis levelled in the next the world number five was pretty much in control thereafter.

A scrappy match eventually went the way of the former world finalist despite only managing a second-biggest run of 57.

Widnes potter Andrew Higginson proved once again to be right at home at the Newport Centre with a 5-2 triumph over Marco Fu.

Higginson went close to winning as a 500-1 outsider in 2007, losing a last frame shootout against Neil Robertson in the final.

And he had too many guns for the Hong Kong player, racing into a 4-1 lead before Fu hit back, only for Higginson to close it out in the next.

Earlier, world number 17 Barry Hawkins whitewashed 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon 5-0 for one of the best wins of the 30-year-old's career.

A break of 85 in the first frame set the tone and he raced into a 3-0 lead, and even an Ebdon break of 50 was not enough to win the fourth frame as Hawkins replied with a break of 64.

Hawkins closed out the match with a 33 clearance in the fifth and the man from Dartford, who has never won a ranking tournament but has twice been a semi-finalist in the Welsh Open in 2005 and 2006, kept his dream alive of success in south Wales.

Australian Robertson moved into the second round with a 5-2 success over Liu Song of China, clinching the last three frames after edging ahead with an impressive 129 break.

Meanwhile, home favourite Matthew Stevens earned his place in the main draw with an untidy 5-4 triumph over Barry Pinches.

The latter was twice ahead in the match but Stevens hit back and it went to a decider, which the Welshman edged thanks to a break of 44 and in doing so ending a match lasting three hours and 49 minutes.