O'Sullivan battles on in Beijing

Date: 30 March-5 April 2009 Venue: Beijing University Students Gymnasium
Coverage: Results and reports on the BBC Sport website

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O'Sullivan has won the Northern Ireland Trophy this season

Ronnie O'Sullivan fended off a determined challenge from Fergal O'Brien to secure a first-round victory at the China Open in Beijing.

The world number one came from 2-1 behind to take the match 5-3.

Stephen Hendry picked up a confidence- boosting 5-3 victory over Englishman Robert Milkins.

There were also first round wins for Mark Selby, Mark King, Greame Dott and Shaun Murphy while Marco Fu suffered a shock defeat to China's Tian Pengfei.

O'Sullivan produced breaks of 55 and 54 to secure the victory and will now play 20-year-old Chinese player Xiao Guodong, who was a surprise first-round winner against Ding Junhui.

"At 3-3 I could have been on my way home, but experience tells me never to panic or worry," O'Sullivan told worldsnooker.com.

"I always have faith that if I can find another gear I can pull away, and turn a 50/50 situation into a 90/10 in my favour. If I play decent I always like my chances.

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"I was a bit loose today, I haven't played many matches lately so it would be good to win a few here to get some match sharpness."

Seven-time Crucible winner Hendry, 40, will now face Ricky Walden in the next round.

Selby beat fellow Englishman Stephen Lee 5-1 to progress to the next round, while King heaped more misery on Welshman Mark Williams with a 5-2 win.

Shaun Murphy looked confident against Cao Xinlong as he lost just one frame to breeze through to a second round clash with Australian Neil Robertson.

Scotland's Graeme Dott also advanced to the second round overcoming China's Yu Delu, 5-3.

There was a Chinese winner though, and a surprise one, as 21-year-old Tian Pengfei overcame Hong Kong's Marco Fu 5-2.

England's Stuart Pettman beat Northern Ireland's Mark Allen 5-3 in Wednesday's early match.