Ronnie O'Sullivan makes a 147 maximum break at the English Open; round two round-up

Having already built a near unassailable 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven frames match, O'Sullivan was quickly amongst the balls in frame four with a potential maximum seemingly on the cards as soon as the reds had been opened up perfectly from a well-judged split.

With no reds having landed near either of the side cushions and the black spot free of hazards, O'Sullivan's only real problem was a single red that had landed close to the blue but, when he pulled off a wonderful pot to the bottom right-hand pocket, it seemed almost inevitable that the milestone would be achieved.

Nevertheless, a tricky final blue to middle wobbled in the jaws before dropping to raucous cheers from a packed Crawley crowd and O'Sullivan had little trouble in potting the final pink and black to complete the 147 maximum break and close out the match in the process.

Aside from O'Sullivan's maximum, his 4-0 defeat of Taylor was far from vintage fare with the latter clearly struggling to settle in front of the TV cameras and in the face of the sport's biggest attraction.

A first frame littered with errors and missed pots from both players went the way of the O'Sullivan before The Rocket produced a flawless 135 total clearance to double his lead at 2-0.

Frame three was similar to the first with both players failing to find any consistency but O'Sullivan edged it thanks to some shrewd safety play before he saved the best till last.

Having complained about the smell of urine as well as having to be "traipsing through kids with snorkels" over the past two days, he will surely remember the venue more fondly now.

"I felt sorry for Allan out there because you could see he was struggling, he's a lot better player than that," O'Sullivan said on Eurosport. "I think the conditions and just being on the TV table got to him a bit.

"I got a bit fortunate earlier on, I missed quite a few balls. We both did and my bad was a bit better than his bad."

O'Sullivan, who will play either Jimmy White or Matthew Stevens in the next round, added: "I did think about it from the first red because I thought I've got to try and do something in this match to get myself excited.

"From about 40-odd I was in bits, I was twitching all over the gaff. My back arm was like a bit of fish, flapping all over the gaff and then they've all gone quiet (fellow players) to watch the max and I thought that's the worst thing you can do, just carry on playing, make some noise, do something.

"When it went too quiet you felt the pressure is on you even more. I didn't even fancy potting that (last) black to be honest with you, I was feeling it."

O'Sullivan will play Matthew Stevens in the third round, following the Welshman's 4-0 win over Jimmy White.

"People think because you're winning tournaments you must be playing well, that's not the case. I won four tournaments last year playing really quite poorly," O'Sullivan added.

"For me to enjoy the game and really get a buzz out of it, you've got to play well and cue well and then you can really get into the game. It's nice winning tournaments but I get more pleasure from putting in good performances."

Selby crashes out

Mark Selby was sent crashing out at the hands of Ben Woollaston who pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career.

Woollaston made a break of 101 in frame two on the way to inching into a 3-2 lead but a missed red along the bottom cushion allowed Selby to level the scores at 3-3 and force a decider.

Having broken down when first in, Woollaston was left to rue his missed opportunities as Selby appeared certain to close out the match with a break of 60.

However, a missed red to middle handed Woollaston a lifeline which he duly to grabbed with both hands, a flawless clearance of 51 handing him victory on the final black.

Roberston, Williams & Trump march on

Reigning world champion Mark Williams recorded a whitewash victory against Alexander Ursenbacher of Switzerland

Neil Roberston progressed to the third round of the with a 4-2 defeat of Oliver Lines.

World number 10, Robertson, has already lifted the Riga Masters trophy this season and knocked in two century breaks on the way to beating Ross Muir in the first round here.

He couldn't quite match that level of form against Lines but breaks of 55 and 68 saw him head into the mid-session interval with a 3-1 advantage before Lines hit back with a break of 62 to reduce his arrears.

Robertson kept his cool, though, and sealed the match with a run of 79 that booked his place in round three.

Judd Trump scored three successive century breaks to come back from 3-1 down and beat Zhao Xintong.

Day impresses against Yong

Ryan Day has struggled for consistency so far this season but the Welshman looked to have his game in perfect working order as he comfortably accounted for Zhang Yong 4-0.

Day raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to breaks of 54 and 105 and soon had the match wrapped up thanks to further contributions of 68 and 57.

Wenbo humbled by Sharav

Liang Wenbo couldn't build on his impressive first-round defeat of Gary Wilson as he was sent crashing out by Eden Sharav.

Wenbo looked to have matters in control when breaks of 82 and 78 put him 2-1 in front but Sharav produced some impressive snooker to win the next three frames with a well-taken contribution of 63 in frame six good enough to see him safely through to the next round.

Carter downs Brecel while Bingham and McGill cruise through

Ali Carter claimed a notable victory as he beat Luca Brecel 4-1, breaks of 61 and 95 helping him close out the match, while Stuart Bingham and Anthony McGill whitewashed Hossein Vafaei and Akani Songsermsawad respectively.

Breaks of 72, 55 and 76 saw Bingham breeze into the next round while McGill made a century in his match to set up a third-round clash with Luo Honghao.

McManus rolls back the years; Steadman progresses

Alan McManus rolled back the years when producing a dominant display to beat David Lilley 4-0 while Craig Steadman made five 50+ breaks as he eased past Chris Wakelin 4-1.

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