O'Sullivan to face Williams

Ronnie O'Sullivan secured his place in the second round of the 888.com World Snooker Championship at the Crucible on Thursday.

Resuming against Chinese teenager Liu Chuang with just a slender 5-4 lead, O'Sullivan won three of the afternoon's first four frames to lead 8-5 at the mid-session interval.

O'Sullivan took the first frame after the interval as well and the Rocket duly completed a 10-5 victory in the next, clearing up the last red and the colours to take the frame 70-59 and set up a meeting with Welshman Mark Williams.

The second round was already under way on the other table, Mark King and Peter Ebdon locked at 2-2 at the mid-session interval.

King, who defeated last year's beaten finalist Mark Selby in the first round, took the opening frame with a break of 81 and also led 2-1 - but Ebdon battled back to level in what was already shaping up to be a tight affair.

Ebdon led for the first time in the match when he took a long, scrappy seventh frame by 68-36, and the former champion made it 5-3 after the first session with a break of 84 in the next.

Defending champion John Higgins threatened to race away with his second-round clash against Wales' Ryan Day when he took the first four frames with breaks of 96, 53, 84 and 79.

But Day then won three of the next four to trail just 5-3 going into Friday's second session in the best-of-25 match.