SHEFFIELD: The top-ranked cueists Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby beat David Gilbert and Jamie Jones respectively in the first round to further proceed in the ongoing World Snooker Championship 2022.

The world number one Ronnie, who faced Gilbert in his first match of the campaign, defeated the latter by 10-5 in the Best of 19.

The 19th ranked Gilbert was off to a flying start as the English cueist secured the first three frames by the scores of 129, 94, and 65.

Ronnie, on the other hand, responded swiftly and scored a century in the fourth frame to reduce the lead to 3-1. He then claimed the next two frames by 73-35 and 96-23 to level the scores at 3-3.

Fuelled with momentum, the top-ranked cueist claimed three more frames including a century in the seventh frame to take the lead 6-3.

Gilbert then looked to bounce back and shone in the next two frames to reduce the lead to 6-5 only for Ronnie to claim the next four frames and the victory. The top-ranked scored two more centuries in the 12th and 14th frames to increase the total match tally to four.

The second-ranked Selby, on the other hand, defeated the 37th-ranked Jones by 10-7 in the Best of 19.

In a see-saw battle between the two cueists, the veteran Selby held his nerve calm to claim a comprehensive victory by 10-7 in the end.

Selby scored three centuries in his first match of the World Championship, with the best break of 137, which came in the 15th frame.

ROUND 1 RESULTS

Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-5 David Gilbert
Mark Selby 10-7 Jamie Jones
Jackson Page 10-7 Barry Hawkins
Zhao Xintong 10-2 Jamie Clarke
Stephen Maguire 10-8 Shaun Murphy

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