Mark Selby eases past Lee Walker in Champion of Champions opener, faces Hossein Vafaei or John Higgins next

Mark Selby eased through his opening match at the Champion of Champions with a 4-0 win over Lee Walker.

Walker, who qualified for the event by winning the World Seniors and is likely making his final professional appearance before turning to coaching, proved no match for four-time world champion Selby.

Selby knocked in breaks of 82 and 88 as he won in just 68 minutes.

He will face either Hossein Vafaei or John Higgins in the group final in the evening. The winner of that match advances to the semi-finals.

“It was impressive,” said seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on ITV.

“The first frame got away from Lee Walker, he had a great chance, but after that it was all about Mark Selby, it was dominant.”

Selby has never won the Champion of Champions but enjoyed a smooth start against Walker.

He took a tight opening frame after Walker screwed in the white after potting the yellow.

Selby cleaned up and followed with an eight-minute 82 break in the next frame to move further ahead.

The former world No. 1 continued to look in good touch as he won the third frame 77-6.

Walker made a positive start to the fourth frame with a long red but then missed a red into the top corner when 16-0 ahead.

Selby didn’t immediately take the opening but got back to the table and secured victory with an 88 break.

Neil Robertson plays his opening match on Tuesday while Judd Trump is in action on Wednesday and Ronnie O’Sullivan plays his first match on Thursday.