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O'Sullivan in charge after dominant opening session

Ronnie O'Sullivan calculated his angles with skill © Getty Images

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Ronnie O'Sullivan kicked off his bid for a fourth World Snooker Championship by showing flashes of his genius against Liang Wenbo.

O'Sullivan last won the world title in 2008, and he appears to be in superb form going into this year's competition, producing two century breaks to take the opening session 7-2. One such break of 108, which gave him a 3-1 lead, took a mere seven minutes from start to finish of the frame.

Wenbo goes by the moniker of "The Fearless", and he showed why he is China's No. 2 in the 2009 Shanghai Masters by reaching the final, but even he must have been slightly intimidated by the start O'Sullivan made. With the scores at 1-1, the "Rocket" hit back-to-back century breaks to accelerate into a 3-1 advantage.

Back came Wenbo with a scrappy frame for 3-2, but a guilt-edged miss on the brown gifted O'Sullivan the sixth frame of the match, before a black-ball game in the seventh also went the way of the world No. 1. He closed out the first session comfortably, claiming the last two frames with runs of 86 and 56.

However, O'Sullivan's behaviour will be under scrutiny when he returns for the second session on Tuesday afternoon after he landed himself in hot water after he was seen to raise a middle finger after a frustrating miss in the seventh frame. Referee Colin Humphries warned the controversial "Rocket" that he would be docked a frame if he did it again.

Steve Davis will be grateful to only trail by one at the interval after he got off to a slow start against Mark King, who leads the match 5-4. Davis had less than ten points to show for his visits to the table in three of the first four frames, as King raced into a 3-1 lead with runs of 53 and 94.

Given that he is appearing at his 30th World Championships, Davis was unlikely to be flustered by his inauspicious start - and so it proved. He fought back to level the scores at 3-3, in the process securing a break of 86 that did much to restore fluency to his game.

King fought back, however, as the momentum once again shifted. He would claim the next two frames, leaving the last of the session crucial to Davis' hopes of claiming a seventh Crucible championship. The wily veteran managed to sneak it 55-31, leaving all to play for when play resumes on Tuesday evening.

Allister Carter was in cruise control as he completed a relatively easy victory over Jamie Cope, taking three of five frames on Monday to triumph 10-4.

Cope is determined to cement a place in the world's top 16, but he was distinctly second best against world No. 5 Carter. Trailing 7-2 upon resumption, Cope was forced to watch from his chair as Carter rattled off 75 to extend that gap.

Breaks of 44 and 84 saw the underdog hit back to 8-4, but Carter knuckled down to close out the match and book his place in round two.

China Open champion Mark Williams won five of the six frames played in the second session to defeat Scottish qualifier Marcus Campbell 10-5. After a back-and-forth first session that ended 5-4 in Williams' favour, he pulled away with runs of 74, 71 and 87. Next up for the Welshman is the winner of the O'Sullivan and Wenbo clash.

Despite the win, the two-time Crucible champion said he made life harder for himself than was necessary. "It was a struggle," Williams told the BBC. "I'm over the moon with the result but not the performance. The first round is a twitchy one."

Marco Fu has fallen at the first hurdle at the Crucible, losing 10-9 to Martin Gould in Monday's morning session.

Fu, who reached the 2006 final, held a 5-4 lead as the first round tie resumed on Monday, but Gould instantly established himself at the table with a fantastic 102 break to level the contest. It was Gould's second ton of the match after he hit a 103 to move to 4-4 over the weekend.

Having won the 2007 Snooker Grand Prix, Fu has been involved in plenty of battles throughout his career, and he took a scrappy frame to reclaim the advantage before constructing a break of 79 on his way to an 8-6 lead.

However Gould, who wears X-ray glasses, hit back with three consecutive frames to turn the match on its head, amassing scores of 53 and 55 to move within one more frame of victory. Fu clung on, potting blue and pink to take the match to a decider, but a pressure break of 90 for Gould ensured he is the first unseeded player into the second round.

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