A review of the action on day two of the Northern Ireland Open, where Stuart Bingham made a 147 and Ronnie O'Sullivan also advanced.
Ronnie rolls into round two
Ronnie O'Sullivan didn't have to be at his best to reach the second round of the Northern Ireland Open, beating Oliver Lines 4-2.
O'Sullivan found himself 2-1 down early on, but a break of 87 restored parity and from there he had few troubles seeing off his younger opponent.
In the same half of the draw, home favourite Mark Allen beat the capable Sam Craigie 4-1, breaks of 74 and 77 confirming him to be in good shape after last week's luckless exit at the Champion of Champions.
There was less good news for Jimmy White's army of supporters as he lost 4-2 to Peter Ebdon, while Kyren Wilson ran out a 4-0 winner against Alan McManus.
Champions of Champions winner Neil Robertson may have still been feeling the effects of his victory last week as he was an early casualty - coming out on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline against Mark Joyce.
Meanwhile, Yuan Sijun produced bookend 90-plus breaks to beat World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson 4-2, with Ricky Walden and Michael Holt others to advance, while Jack Lisowski went out 4-3 Soheil Vahedi despite opening the match with a century.
Maximum man Bingham strikes again
Stuart Bingham struck the sixth 147 maximum break of his career in his battling 4-3 victory over Lu Ning.
Bingham was a first-round casualty in Beflast last year and had to fight hard to progress to the second round 12 months on, holding off Ning's brave comeback from 3-0 down.
The 147 break came in the opening frame, Bingham navigating his way through the 15 reds and blacks before polishing off the colours with his usual pinpoint cue-ball control and clean potting, before further breaks of 58 and 57 increased his lead to 3-0.
However, Ning refused to buckle and won frames four and five with runs of 70 and 78 before Bingham somehow threw frame six away when he had seemed certain to close out the match.
With the momentum having seemingly swung in Ning's favour, he built up a useful lead in the decider but Bingham kept himself alive with a dogged display that saw him fight his way back into the frame before eventually prevailing on the colours.
Trump resists Cahill comeback
Judd Trump defied a stirring comeback from James Cahill to come through an engrossing match 4-3.
This encounter always promised to be one of ties of the first round and it didn't disappoint, Cahill confirming the huge promise he displayed when claiming the scalp of Ronnie O'Sullivan at last year's World Championship with another impressive showing - only this time in defeat.
Trump began in astonishing fashion, reeling off three centuries in succession - 106, 122 and 111 - to race into a 3-0 lead and promise a welcome early finishing following the heavy workload he has endured in recent weeks.
However, Cahill rallied by stealing frame four on the black and having dominated the following frame, he added breaks of 56 and 55 to force a decider.
The first chance of the decider did fall Cahill's way but when a tricky red just missed the target, Trump managed to build up a healthy lead before winning a short safety battle which was followed by a match-clinching run of 75.
Deadly Dott into second round
Former world champion Graeme Dott booked his place in the second round with a comfortable 4-2 defeat of Duane Jones.
Having seen Jones draw level when getting the better of a scrappy second frame, Dott took control of the match with an impressive showing that included breaks of 74, 100 and 57.
Dott will meet Craig Steadman in round two after he cruised past Bai Langning 4-1.
Robertson battles through
Last season's European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson has found results hard to come by since that success in the Belgium but he produced a solid display on day two in Belfast, getting the better of Igor Figueiredo 4-3.
A run of 78 had put Figueiredo in front at 2-1 but Robertson responded with breaks of 69 and 80 to put himself on the cusp of victory.
However, Figueiredo edged frame six to force a nervy deciding frame, one in which Robertson prevailed thanks to a terrific red potted along the bottom cushion at pace.
Liang Wenbo rattled off breaks of 78, 77, 102 and 84 in his 4-1 defeat of Kurt Maflin while Jamie O'Neill claimed a notable scalp when beating Akani Songsermsawad 4-2.
