Selby Withdraws from China Open

Mark Selby has withdrawn from the China Open with a neck injury.

The world number one had been due to play Ding Junhui in the last 16 but is returning to England for treatment.

"I struggled through my first-round match and I don't want to do any more damage, especially with the World Championship coming up," he said.

Ronnie O'Sullivan crushed Mark Williams 5-1 in their second-round match, while defending champion Judd Trump beat Stuart Bingham 5-3.

World number two Williams, who has not beaten O'Sullivan for 10 years, missed an opportunity to level the tie at 2-2 and went on to lose 5-1.

O'Sullivan, who now leads their head-to-head meetings 23-7, will meet the Welshman again in the second round of the World Championship if both players win their first-round matches.

Trump, who beat Mark Selby in last year's final, won three frames on the trot to book his place in the quarter-finals.

He will face Stephen Lee, who continued his good run of form with a 5-3 victory against Graeme Dott.

Junhui Beaten in Round 1 by Long

Ding Junhui went out of the World Open at the first round stage after a shock defeat to wildcard entrant Jin Long.

Ding, who had won the Welsh Open just nine days earlier, suffered a 5-1 loss in Haikou to his fellow Chinese player.

After taking a 3-1 lead going into the interval, Jin did not look back, hitting a 76 break in the fifth frame before clinching a famous victory.

World champion John Higgins and UK champion Judd Trump also progressed to the second round.

Higgins beat Marco Fu 5-3. Fu had smashed in a maximum 147 break in the qualifiers, but was unable to defeat the four-time world champion, who will face either Martin Gould or Jamie Cope in the next round.

Trump advanced after whitewashing Andrew Higginson 5-0. The Romford-based left-hander had a highest break of 111, and will next play the winner of the match between Mark Allen and Jimmy Robertson.

Michael Holt and Stephen Lee also won their matches without conceding a frame against Stuart Bingham and Dominic Dale respectively.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Shaun Murphy, who defeated Ricky Walden 5-3, and Graeme Dott, who won 5-2 against Barry Hawkins.

WEDNESDAY'S FIRST ROUND MATCHES

Mark Selby v Lu Ning

Mark Williams v Mark King

Mark Allen v Jimmy Robertson

Matthew Stevens v Joe Perry

Stephen Maguire v Robert Milkins

Neil Robertson v Stephen Hendry

Martin Gould v Jamie Cope

Ding Wins Welsh Open

Ding Junhui beat Mark Selby 9-6 to win the Welsh Open in Newport.

China's Ding, 24, playing his first ranking final of the year, capitalised on some uncharacteristic mistakes from the Leicester-based world number one.

Ding won the first session 5-3 and then maintained his dominance in the second to pick up the £30,000 winner's cheque with relative ease.

He said: "Mark Selby is a very good player. He's number one but I've beaten the number one."

Selby, who made the tournament's top break of 145, paid tribute to his opponent.

He said: "I played well in patches but missed too many balls and let him off the hook in the first session.

"Ding got some momentum after that. He played well and full credit to him.

"He's a class player and thoroughly deserved to win."

Selby, who beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final, began well, taking an early 2-1 lead with breaks of 103 and 124 but Ding hit back, winning three frames in a row.

After play resumed for the evening session Ding missed a brown and Selby reduced the arrears with a 73 break.

The Chinese player won the next two frames before Selby took advantage of a missed red with a 91.

But Ding hit-back with a 124, his first century of the tournament, to lead 7-5 at the mid-session interval and maintained his momentum after the interval, with a 130 break.

Selby then showed all his fighting qualities with a 145 total clearance and a £1,000 cheque for the highest break of the tournament.

It was cat and mouse in the final frame but Ding kept his cool to win the fifth ranking title of his career.

Ding Sweeps Past Murphy

China's Ding Junhui swept past England's Shaun Murphy 6-2 to reach the Welsh Open final on Saturday.

The 24-year-old, who laid the foundations for victory by taking a 4-1 lead in the best-of-eleven-frame clash, will tackle Mark Selby in Sunday's final.

It will be Ding's first ranking final since he lost to Mark Williams in the 2010 China Open.

"The past couple of years have been difficult because I have been travelling to and from China so I haven't been able to practise properly," said Ding.

"If I stay here for two or three months then I miss home and I want to go to China for a week.

"In the last few weeks I have had my best practice for a long time and I feel my game is getting better. I'm really happy to be in the final and I played well today."

Murphy praised Ding for his contribution to the sport, both on and off the table.

"Ding is very hard to read but he's a lovely lad and a credit to the game," he said.