Big scare for China champ

Ebdon: Final frame winner

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Defending champion Peter Ebdon survived a tough battle with youngster Judd Trump to win their China Open first round clash 5-4 in Beijing.

Ebdon had been cruising at 3-1 up, but 20-year-old Trump hit back to level at 3-3, and despite Ebdon going in front the Bristolian again levelled to force a decider.

Former Crucible world champion Ebdon held his nerve in the ninth and final frame to go through 5-4 and set up a last-16 encounter with Australia's Neil Robertson.

"It wasn't a fantastic match," 39-year-old Ebdon told World Snooker. "Judd is a tough opponent, you can see his class and his cue power. I had my fair share of luck, but as Gary Player said, 'the more you practice, the luckier you get'.

"The table was beautiful, it was very fast and difficult to control the white. It was warm in there as well, I think I lost about 20 kilos."

Hendry stroll

Stephen Hendry looked to be in for a struggle against Andrew Higginson before the veteran Scot powered away to a 5-2 victory in his first round match.

The Scot went 1-0 and 2-1 ahead - the latter courtesy of a break of 132 - only for Higginson to get back on level terms, but the seven-time world champion then reeled off three frames to clinch a round-two date with Wales' Ryan Day.

"I'm quite pleased with the form I showed today, I missed a couple of balls but I'm happy to be in the next round," said Hendry.

"My biggest asset has always been making big breaks, which shows in the number of centuries I've made during my career, and I'm always happiest when I'm around the pink or black.

"I've always enjoyed coming here to China and I have a lot of fans here. Maybe I try too hard to succeed. The arena was very full today and I felt pressure to play good snooker for the fans."

Ali Carter barely gave Liu Chuang a look-in in their first-round encounter, beating the Chinese player 5-1.

Breaks of 68, 52 and 53 helped the Colchester-born 30-year-old establish a 3-0 advantage and, although Liu then pulled one frame back, the respite was only brief as Carter stormed into the second round.

Mark King's clash with James Wattana also went the distance.

The Englishman found himself 2-0 and 4-2 down to his Thai opponent but battled back and eventually prevailed thanks to a brilliant century in the final frame.

Murphy out of luck

Former world champion Shaun Murphy bowed out, beaten 5-2 by Nigel Bond.

The match was delicately poised at 2-2 but breaks of 59 and 46 put Bond 4-2 up, with the 44-year-old sealing the win in a scrappy final frame.

Joe Perry was never troubled after breaks of 58, 68 and 75 helped him open up a 4-0 lead as he eased past Malta's Tony Drago 5-1.

Mark Selby was also a comfortable winner, seeing off Rod Lawler by five frames to one.

The Masters champion had trailed 1-0 after Lawler opened up with a break of 56, but Selby slowly asserted his authority and he won the final three frames in quick succession as he compiled breaks of 79, 46 and 67.