Selby on song to make light work of wild-card Williams

World No 1 Mark Selby beat wild-card robbie Williams 5-1 to move into the second round of the Wuxi Classic in China.

Selby, who succeeded Neil robertson at the top of the rankings following his dafabet World Championship victory over ronnie o’Sullivan last month, raced into a 2-0 lead before a break of 123 stretched it to 3-0.

Williams hit back in the fourth but Selby, winner of the 2011 event, ensured his opponent’s comeback was short- l i ved by going on to wrap up the match.

He faces h o me favourite liang Wenbo in the second round after he, too, had little difficulty seeing off Jamie Burnett 5-1, with t wo century breaks reflecting his superiority over the 38-year-old Scot.

But there was better news f or Scottish hopefuls Graeme dott and Stephen Maguire, who enjoyed 5-3 victories over Zhou Yuelong and david Gilbert respectively.

Barry Hawkins made short work of lee Page, winning 5- 0, while Mark Williams found it similarly easy, overcoming Mark Joyce 5-1 courtesy of frame-winning breaks of 70, 57 and 62. He meets ryan day, who consigned Matthew Selt to a 5-0 defeat.

Meanwhile, defending champion robertson was handed a bye into the second r ound after Switzerland’s Alexander Ursenbacher failed to secure a visa and could not compete in their first-round tie.