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Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Stuart Pettman 5-4 to reach the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Trophy at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.
The Englishman, playing for the first time since giving his cue away at last season's world championship, came from 2-1 down to set up a third-round meeting with Matthew Stevens.
Pettman was in fine form throughout, making breaks of 56, 66 and 96, but wasted a chance to go 3-2 ahead and eventually went down in the final frame.
O'Sullivan edged ahead, winning the seventh with a 113 for a 4-3 lead, but Pettman took a scrappy eighth to take the game into a deciding frame.
A composed 55 break was enough for O'Sullivan to take the decider, and afterwards he admitted he had enjoyed being back playing tournament snooker.
"It was kind of tough, but I enjoyed it. I had a bit of fun," he said.
"It's good to be here. It was a good crowd."
Welsh duo Mark Williams and Stevens both enjoyed comfortable wins to also reach the third round.
Williams, a two-time former champion, beat Bristol's Andrew Norman 5-1, while Stevens whitewashed Romford's Mark King to book a Thursday afternoon showdown with O'Sullivan.
During the afternoon session, Welshman Dominic Dale had produced a shock by beating world number seven Peter Ebdon 5-3.
It was a high quality match with both men scoring heavily - Dale knocked in a 104 and four other half centuries to prevail.
Ebdon, runner-up at last season's World Championship, enjoyed runs of 128, 61 and 60 but it did not prevent him losing his first competitive match of the 2006-07 season.
"Beating Peter is a big scalp for me, but I feel I'm back playing at a level I'm happy with," said Dale, who wore a bright pink shirt during the match.
"I've been striking the ball really well and working hard in private. Against some players you feel very comfortable when you're 4-2 ahead, but against Peter you can never relax.
"I've lacked a lot of self-belief in the past, but I'm a tremendous snooker player and why shouldn't I believe in myself?
"I've won a major tournament and winning boosts your confidence. I've won a couple of frames I shouldn't have done in that match, but I've also made a couple of tremendous clearances."
World number four John Higgins got his season off to a winning start with a 5-3 success against England's Robert Milkins, while Ryan Day of Wales defeated last season's Grand Prix semi-finalist Barry Hawkins 5-1. |
Source: Sky Sports |
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