Snooker results: Robbie Williams no match for Ronnie O'Sullivan in York

O'Sullivan was behind early against Robbie Williams, who produced breaks of 114 and 68 to take a 2-1 lead, but thereafter it was all O'Sullivan as breaks of 91, 74, 66 and 55 ensured he was the first man through to round three.

"I had to apply myself mentally today, you can only control the controllables," said O’Sullivan, who will face Mark King next after he beat Gerard Greene 6-2.

"Mental strength can be the difference between winning and losing. I try to enjoy myself and have fun – at my age it’s just nice to be getting my cue out of its case. This is the second biggest tournament and I have got a good record in it."

Wilson soon followed, bossing his match with Jak Jones right from the first frame, as a 113 break set him on course for a whitewash 6-0 victory. He'll face Wu Yize next.

World number five Wilson said: "Jak is tough to play against in terms of his rhythm. I lost to him in a qualifying match last season when I got involved in his style of play. I made sure that didn’t happen this time and focussed on my own pace and rhythm."

O'Sullivan and Wilson are on course to meet in the quarter-finals and if either does emerge from the second quarter, they might expect to go all the way after Neil Robertson exited from the top of the draw.

Robertson lost to amateur John J Astley on Thursday, soon after Shaun Murphy had suffered the same fate and complained that amateurs should not be allowed to play following his defeat to Si Jiahui.

Murphy was part of the BBC's commentary team on Saturday and, though standing by his comments, apologised to the young Chinese player for the timing of them.

Yan exits early as Selt eyes Trump chance

Yan Bingtao was the most high-profile casualty as the tournament resumed on Saturday, the Chinese losing 6-3 to Ben Woollaston.

Yan lost a tight fourth frame 63-62 and then lost the fifth 69-62, allowing Woollaston to build a 4-1 lead. That three-frame advantage was restored by a century in frame seven and he went on to win convincingly.

Jack Lisowski was less impressive as he stumbled over the line in a 6-4 defeat of Martin O'Donnell, while the aforementioned Si bowed out in a 6-4 defeat to Dominic Dale.

Matthew Selt scored a 6-2 victory over Joe Perry, earning a meeting with the winner of Sunday’s match between Judd Trump and Chris Wakelin.

"I would love to play Judd, I have known him since he was eight years old and we are very close," said Selt. "He is a phenomenal player. If I perform I will have a chance, if I collapse like I usually do on the TV table then I’ll lose 6-0. But Judd will have a tough match first against Chris."

While Trump remains favourite, the task to win a ranking title of late has to beat John Higgins and that remains true after he beat Sunny Akani 6-3.

What looked to be a comfortable evening for the Scot became anything but when Akani rattled off three frames in succession to avoid a whitewash, but Higgins took his chance well in frame nine as a pair of trademark doubles sealed a 6-3 success.

There were also wins for Mark Allen and David Gilbert, who will face each other in one of the standout third-round ties.