Haikou World Open: Ding Junhui makes flying start; Shaun Murphy knocks out Jimmy White
Ding Junhui began his bid for glory at the Haikou World Open with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Li Yan.
Last Updated: 11/03/14 4:10pm
Bidding to win a record-equalling fifth ranking title of the season, Ding registered breaks of 52, 67, 51 and 128 on his way to a comfortable opening-round victory.
The 26-year-old has already triumphed at the German Masters, Shanghai Masters, Indian Open and International championship, as well as losing out to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final of the Welsh Open.
The potter from China will next face India's Pankaj Advani, who defeated Xiao Guodong 5-4 to reach the second round of the event.
"I played ok," Ding told www.worldsnooker.com.
"Li played some good safety so it was tough for me during the first few frames. I wasn't worried because I'm well prepared. I will try to concentrate and play better in the next round.
"It's good to be close to the sea so I'm able to relax a bit. It's a nice hotel and venue. I feel relaxed."
Serious blow
In other first-round matches, veteran White saw his hopes of retaining a tour place suffer a serious blow when he was beaten 5-1 by Shaun Murphy.
Alan McManus and Michael Holt also claimed 5-1 wins over Martin Gould and Nigel Bond respectively, while Mark Williams dropped just a solitary frame in his routine triumph over Yuan Sijun.
Dominic Dale had life much tougher in his match, having to rally from 4-2 down to eventually beat Michael Leslie 5-4 on the final black.
Ricky Walden, Matthew Stevens, Marco Fu, Rory McLeod, Robert Milkins and Mark King also cleared the first hurdle.
In Tuesday's evening games, Judd Trump raced to a 5-0 win over Chen Zifan while Kurt Maflin beat Joe Perry 5-1 and Liang Wenbo defeated Scott Donaldson by the same scoreline.
Former world champion Ken Doherty eased past Barry Pinches 5-2, the same score that Mark Joyce recorded in beating David Morris. Also, Ali Carter saw off the challenge of David Gilbert 5-3.
