It was an exciting round of fixtures at the World Open, with eight games played on the opening day. While Ronnie O’Sullivan fell to a disappointing defeat at the hands of Dominic Dale, Judd Trump made no mistake about dispatching his opponent.

The World Champion had only a little time to waste in his qualifying round match against China’s Zhang Jiankang. Trump did his Chinese opponent dirty with a 5-0 win in just 32 minutes, recording breaks of 80, 104, 63, 70, and 69 in the process. The overwhelming snooker force swept his opponent off his feet in stunning fashion.

He was obviously psyched up by his recent English Open victory and took the game by the scruff of its neck. A brilliant and emphatic win for the World Champion if you’d ask anyone. With that huge win, Trump is sure sending signals to his main rivals and opponents who he thinks could give him a good run for the title in Yushan.

But for now, he would have his eyes set on winning round one tie first. Judd Trump will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing Sam Craigie, with the game expected to be an easy win for the World Champion.

Sam Craigie, aged 25, doesn’t enjoy as much pedigree or fame as Judd and would hence go into the game as an underdog.

The newly crowned English Champion, Mark Selby, was also in action as he locked horns with Anthony Hamilton.

The 2014 World Open finalist and three-time World Champion oversaw a 5-3 win over Hamilton recording a break of 96. The English Open winner has found his way into round two of the competition.

In some other clash, Ding Junhui pipped Billy Castle 5-2 to stroll into round one of the World Open in Yushan. At the interval, he had already secured a 3-1 win over his opponent, making breaks of 65 and 78 along the way. It was only a matter of minutes for him to secure the win, and he did just that!

Liam Highfield has withdrawn from the World Open with illness, and it’s now a bye next for Ding Junhui.

Judd Trump is priced at 4.00 to win the World Open 2019, while Mark Selby is available at 7.00 to claim the trophy.

Written by: Roland Arum