Luca Brecel began the defence of his Evergrande China Championship title with a 5-1 defeat of tour rookie Joe O’Connor, with the Belgian ace revealing his new regime is paying off.

Brecel tasted ranking event success for the first time in his career last year in Guangzhou after a stunning 10-5 win over Shaun Murphy in the final.

Following a first-round exit at the World Championship against Ricky Walden in April, Brecel vowed to make changes to benefit his game and he feels they are starting to pay off.

“After the World Championship I said to my family that I have to change something. I changed my diet, I changed my fitness and I practice every day now,” revealed Brecel.

“I wouldn’t have been doing that last year. That is paying off now. My game is in good shape, I just need to get some confidence and I can maybe get back to semi-finals and finals.”

Brecel impressed in his opener, making five half-century contributions on his way to a comfortable success and teeing up a second-round clash with Martin O’Donnell.

Brecel is the favourite at 1.40 to win the clash, with O’Donnell 2.88 to oust the defending champion.

World champion Mark Williams dispatched Rod Lawler 5-0 to book a clash against veteran Ken Doherty.

The Welshman compiled breaks of 56, 64 and 102 on his way to a comfortable victory.

China’s number one Ding Junhui had to battle to get by Lee Walker 5-3 in his opener.