O'Sullivan rockets past Cope
Ronnie O'Sullivan blew Jamie Cope off the table to book a quarter final spot in the totesport.com Welsh Open in Newport
It was all too simple for Ronnie O'Sullivan. He barely had to break into a sweat to overcome an uncharacteristically nervous Jamie Cope when they met in the Last 16 of the totesport.com Welsh Open.
Cope broke down on 29 in the opener and sat out a run of 60 from O'Sullivan.
That set the pattern for the match. O'Sullivan wasn't potting everything and Cope had plenty of chances but he fluffed them all.
In the second frame he opened with 47, missed and O'Sullivan cleared with 38.
The World Number One dominated the third with a run of 73 and added 60 in the fourth to stroll off to the interval with a 4-0 lead.
Cope only detained O'Sullivan for a further ten minutes on the resumption. Breaks of 43 and 52 saw O'Sullivan safely through.
The Stoke man was rueful after the match commenting "Sometimes it's tough to settle down against the top players."
This must say something about Cope's attitude and level of confidence.
For a player who has been in two major finals and is knocking on the door of the Top Sixteen himself, one would think that he now considers himself one of the top players.
Cope went on to say "If only I'd felt as calm and relaxed as in my match yesterday, then, with the chances I had, I could have even won the match 4-1 or 5-0.
"But I just didn't settle down. I missed easy shots. I suppose that's what pressure does to you."
For O'Sullivan it was just a job of work to be done so there wasn't much for him to get too excited about after the match.
"Jamie missed balls you'd expect him to get, so I just capitalised on his mistakes.
"It wasn't a case of having to play well to force errors from your opponent and then play well yourself.
"I know he [Cope] can pot everything and you don't look forward to playing him, but today he missed a lot.
"It's a great atmosphere here. We always get fantastic crowds and great support.
"I always like coming to Wales to play in an event."
Mark Allen won an entertaining and free flowing match against Matthew Stevens 5-2.
Runs of 35 and 38 gave the Antrim man the opener before Stevens responded with the first of his two centuries in the match, making 106.
Allen added 73 and 55 for a 3-1 lead.
Stevens had his eye on a maximum in the next. He got to 56 before breaking down and he hadn't secured the frame. Allen stepped up and cleared with 73.
The Welsh favourite ran in 109 to stay in the match and give the home crowd something to cheer, but an early break of 45 in the next gave Allen the chance to close out the match.
That win sets up a tasty quarter final between O'Sulllivan and Allen, a repeat of their World Championship epic.
Stephen Maguire won a low key affair against Barry Hawkins 5-1.
The Scot opened with 89 and then added a scrappy 36 minute second before Hawkins made 65 to win, what turned out to be, his only frame success in the match.
Maguire addded further runs of 55, 49 and 47 to book his quarter final place.
