O'Sullivan Wins Ebdon Match

Ronnie O'Sullivan completed a 10-4 victory over old rival Peter Ebdon with few alarms to launch his bid for a fourth World Championship title.

The three-time champion, resuming 7-2 up after a dominant first session, made an 80 clearance to extend his lead.

Ebdon, champion in 2002, hit back to make it 8-3 before a run of 68 put O'Sullivan within one frame of victory.

Breaks of 45 and 51 saw Ebdon extend the match, but after an interval O'Sullivan sealed victory with a 54.

"All credit to Peter, he has had a fantastic season, won the last ranking event and is one of the hardest competitors on the circuit," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport. "He made it tough for me and I am just pleased to get the win.

"No-one runs away with it with Peter. He has won the title here before and he is one of the great competitors of our game."

O'Sullivan, who has recently been dealing with the after-effects of glandular fever, will face either two-time champion Mark Williams or China's Liu Chiang in the second round starting on Saturday, 28 April.

"Mark has a tough match there," he added. "I have played Liu a few times in practice and he has beaten me, so it will be tough whoever I play.

"But you don't expect any easy matches at the Crucible. It is just nice to get through and have the chance to go again."

Despite O'Sullivan's generous words for his opponent, who has twice beaten him at the Crucible, Ebdon showed little of the form that saw him win last month's China Open and his World Championship qualifier 10-0 against Alfie Burden.

After a riveting opening frame that could have gone either way but eventually went to O'Sullivan after 21 shots on a re-spotted black, the 41-year-old never got close enough to putting 'The Rocket' under any pressure.

A 103 break - his 107th century at the Crucible - helped O'Sullivan into a 3-1 lead, but he did not have to find anything approaching top form to end Monday's first session with a 7-2 lead, only a battling 90 from Ebdon in the last frame of the day keeping him in touch overnight.

It was a similar story when they resumed on Tuesday, Ebdon failing to profit from several good chances as O'Sullivan's greater scoring prowess proved decisive.

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Crucible Draws O'Sullivan and Ebdon

Three-time winner Ronnie O'Sullivan has been drawn against 2002 champion Peter Ebdon in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.

Ebdon has beaten O'Sullivan twice in Sheffield, won last month's China Open and beat Alfie Burden 10-0 in the final round of qualifying for the Crucible.

Reigning champion John Higgins begins his defence against Liang Wenbo.

And last year's runner-up Judd Trump faces a first-round encounter against Welshman Dominic Dale.

Much of the attention before the draw was on 17-year-old Belgian starlet Luca Brecel, ranked 87 in the world, who will become the youngest competitor in Crucible history.

And he has a stern task, coming up against Scotland's Stephen Maguire, a winner of four ranking events during his career.

But the most intriguing tie of the first round is world number 13 O'Sullivan versus old adversary Ebdon.

Ebdon, the world number 21, left O'Sullivan frustrated by his slow tactics during a famous Crucible quarter-final in 2005, which Ebdon won.

"People can say what they like but I don't care. When I'm trying my hardest I seem to go slow. I don't do it intentionally," said Ebdon, a three-time finalist, of that victory.

Ebdon also beat O'Sullivan in the semi-finals in 1996, while O'Sullivan beat Ebdon in the quarter-finals in 2001.

O'Sullivan-Ebdon will take place over afternoon sessions next Monday and Tuesday. Higgins will begin his campaign at 10am on Saturday, day one of the tournament.

Stephen Hendry, the record seven-time champion who came through the qualifiers, plays England's Stuart Bingham, while world number one Mark Selby plays left-hander Barry Hawkins.

Bingham upset Hendry, when the Scot was defending champion, 10-7 in the first round in 2000.

World championship first-round draw:

John Higgins (Sco) v Liang Wenbo (Chn)

Mark Selby (Eng) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)

Mark Williams (Wal) v Liu Chuang (Chn)

Judd Trump (Eng) v Dominic Dale (Wal)

Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Jamie Jones (Wal)

Neil Robertson (Aus) v Ken Doherty (Ire)

Ding Junhui (Chn) v Ryan Day (Wal)

Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Luca Brecel (Bel)

Graeme Dott (Sco) v Joe Perry (Eng)

Mark Allen (NI) v Cao Yupeng (Chn)

Martin Gould (Eng) v David Gilbert (Eng)

Stephen Lee (Eng) v Andrew Higginson (Eng)

Ali Carter (Eng) v Mark Davis (Eng)

Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) v Peter Ebdon (Eng)

Matthew Stevens (Wal) v Marco Fu (HK)

Stuart Bingham (Eng) v Stephen Hendry (Sco)

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Ebdon Wins China Open

Peter Ebdon warmed up for his World Championship qualifying bid by beating Stephen Maguire to win the China Open.

Ebdon held off a plucky Maguire fightback in the afternoon session in Beijing for a thrilling 10-9 triumph.

The 41-year-old raced into a 5-1 lead after dominating the opening session, but was pegged back to 8-8 by the Scot.

Victory was the perfect tonic for 2002 world champion Ebdon ahead of his attempt to book his place at the Crucible later this month.

The current world number 28 must win a qualifying match on 15 April to return to the famous Sheffield venue.

And he will be boosted by a determined display where he upset the odds against world number nine Maguire.

The pair, both winners of the tournament in the past, traded blows in each of the final two frames before Ebdon finally clinched the eight-hour marathon match.

The Northamptonshire potter ended the hopes of home favourite Ding Junhui in the semi-finals and compiled two impressive century breaks in the opening session of the final to leave Maguire shell-shocked.

He racked up 107 to edge 2-1 ahead before 124 in the final morning frame left Maguire facing an uphill battle.

But he powered back to 8-8, setting up an exciting climax with a £75,000 winning prize up for grabs.

Ebdon refused to be deflated after losing seven of 10 frames and used all of his considerable experience to dig deep for a 103 break in the 17th frame.

Maguire took the match into the decider but after both players were guilty of missing opportunities, Ebdon held his nerve in a tense final frame.