World Open 2024: Ronnie O’Sullivan battles past Michael White to reach last 32, Judd Trump beats Sanderson Lam

Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his place in the last 32 of the World Open with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Michael White.

Neither player was at their best but it was O’Sullivan who did enough to set up a meeting with Lyu Haotian in the next round.

The pair shared a scrappy opening two frames before ‘The Rocket’ found some fluency.

Back-to-back centuries saw the seven-time world champion take a commanding 3-1 lead in at the interval, but he couldn’t maintain that form when play resumed.

White halved his deficit and then restored parity at 3-3 with a break of 96 in the sixth frame to give himself a chance of a first-ever win over O’Sullivan.

But those hopes were quickly extinguished. A break of 87 put O’Sullivan back in front and although he needed multiple chances to get over the line, he eventually took the eighth frame on the final black.

Joining O’Sullivan in the third round is Judd Trump, who reeled off four straight frames in a 5-2 win over Sanderson Lam.

Lam took the opener and looked set to double his advantage before he faltered with the winning line in sight.

That allowed Trump to pinch it on the final black for 1-1 and he moved 2-1 clear after a scrappy third frame.

A break of 63 then gave Trump a 3-1 cushion at the interval before he stole the next with a 67 to get within one of victory.

On the brink of defeat, Lam dug deep to make it 4-2 and extend the match, but a break of 73 sealed the win for Trump.

He will take on Fan Zhengyi next, who got a walkover against Dave Gilbert.

Elsewhere, former world champion Neil Robertson produced breaks of 87, 55, 109 and 70 in a 5-3 win over Tian Pengfei to set up a clash with Yuan Sijun.

Matthew Stevens won the last three frames to beat Ryan Day 5-2 in an all-Welsh encounter, while Cao Yupeng was in brilliant form to get the better of Noppon Saengkham.

Cao made five 50-plus breaks in a 5-3 triumph, including a century in the fourth frame, and will face compatriot Ding Junhui in the third round.

He Guoqiang secured his place in the next round too, although he did things the hard way, battling back from 4-3 down to win a final-frame decider against Wang Xinbo.

The 23-year-old compiled two centuries on his way to victory, with breaks of 132 and 121 respectively, before a nerveless 69 in the decider helped him clinch victory.

If that comeback was special, though, it was nothing compared to Chris Wakelin’s 5-4 success against Jordan Brown.

The 32-year-old, who reached the final of the Northern Ireland Open earlier this year, found himself 3-0 down early on, as his opponent looked set to romp through.

However, he hit back with breaks of 82 and 92 en route to making it 3-3, before securing victory in a tight finale.