A review of the action on day one of the Zhiyuan World Open.
The Rocket crashes out
Ronnie O'Sullivan suffered his first ever defeat to Welshman Dominic Dale as he crashed out in qualifying for the World Open in China.
The Spaceman earned his first ever career victory over The Rocket with breaks of 51 and 72 clinching a 5-3 victory in their qualifying encounter.
In a ding-dong battle, Dale raced into a 2-0 lead before O'Sullivan responded with breaks of 50 and 91, the best of the match, drawing him level at 2-2.
Again Dale moved in front with a run of 76 but five-time world champion O'Sullivan levelled it up once more and it appeared like he would then power away to victory.
It would be Dale, though, who made the decisive move and his two half-century breaks saw him finally seal a famous victory against the game's greatest.
😲Well that didn't last long...Ronnie O'Sullivan out of the World Open after losing 5-3 to Dominic Dale.pic.twitter.com/Inu88JSxDZ
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) October 28, 2019
Trump enjoys qualifying cruise
Judd Trump sealed his place in the first round with a 5-0 whitewash of Zhang Jiankang, the reigning world champion producing breaks of 80, 104, 63, 70 and 69 in a stunning display.
Trump will face Sam Craigie on Tuesday while Luca Brecel comfortably defeated Wu Yize 5-2 in their qualifying match.
Veteran Ken Doherty reeled off breaks of 92, 55 and 89 in his 5-3 victory over Li Yingdong with Zhang Yang another early-morning victor after he edged past Scott Donaldson 5-4.
Murphy impresses again
Shaun Murphy has been one of the stars of the new season, reaching three finals and winning one, and he looked sharp in his 5-2 win over Alan McManus.
Murphy opened up with breaks of 55, 68 to ease into a 2-0 lead and further runs of 55 and 59 saw him extend his advantage to 4-1 and put him on the cusp of victory.
McManus did keep his hopes alive by winning frame six but Murphy closed out the match with a break of 57 to secure his safe passage to round two.
Selby continues fine form
Recent English Open hero Mark Selby again looked in good touch when beating Anthony Hamilton 5-3 in their first-round match.
Selby opened up with a fabulous break of 111 and added further breaks of 59 and 96 to progress to the second round, runs of 78 and 70 from Hamilton ultimately proving in vain.
Big home hope Ding Junhui produced a solid display to qualify for the first round proper, seeing off Billy Joe Castle 5-2, while Yan Bingtao held off a stern challenge from Bai Langning to prevail 5-4.
Hawkins late-show stuns Fu
Barry Hawkins came from 3-2 behind to beat Marco Fu 5-3, the left-hander winning three frames on the bounce to set up a second-round encounter with either Michael Holt or Luca Brecel.
Fu had appeared to take control of the match with breaks of 56, 50 and 52 but Hawkins was produced some solid match-play when needed most, drawing level with a run of 79 before holding his nerve to claim the next two frames.
David Gilbert pulled off an even more impressive comeback, overcoming Zhao Xintong having seemed on the verge of crashing out when 4-1 behind.
Breaks of 55, 93 and 134 powered Xintong into the ascendancy but Gilbert wasn't perturbed and kept his hopes alive with a brilliant century (102) before adding another - this time a run of 114 - to force a deciding frame.
A cool contribution of 61 in the decider was enough to get Gilbert over the winning line, completing a fantastic comeback and maintaining the strong form of the recent English Open runner-up.
