Ronnie O’Sullivan blanks Rod Lawler to cruise into Welsh Open last 16

O'Sullivan put together breaks of 100, 62 and 58 on his way to a 4-0 success at Venue Cymru in Llandudno.

However, reigning champion Joe Perry is out after a 4-1 defeat by Robbie Williams, as is four-time world champion Mark Selby, a 4-2 loser to Robert Milkins who clinched victory with a break of 137.

Joe O'Connor also made it through with a 4-0 win over Stuart Carrington, while Ben Mertens edged a thriller against David Gilbert 4-3 having chalked up a break of 130 in the second frame only to see his opponent register 142 in the fourth.

There was a victory too for Pang Junxu, who saw off Aaron Hill 4-1.

Earlier, another four-time world champion John Higgins had secured a second successive 4-0 win, this time over Martin Gould courtesy of breaks of 89, 68, 97 and 66 to book a last 32 clash with Sanderson Lam.

He will be joined by Judd Trump, who needed clearances for 34 and 65 to fight back from 2-1 down to beat Louis Heathcoate 4-2 and set up a third round match against amateur Daniel Wells.

Ali Carter remains on track to win the £150,000 BetVictor Series bonus at the end of this week after his 4-1 win over amateur Ian Martin, while there were victories too for Hossein Vafaei, Andy Hicks, Mark Allen, Barry Hawkins, David Lilley, Jack Lisowski and Tian Pengfei, who beat Jimmy White 4-2.