Snooker Grand Prix round-up

Mark King won a remarkable Grand Prix match 5-4 against fellow Englishman Ricky Walden, winning the final frame from a position where he looked a certain loser.

Walden had taken advantage of King missing a difficult pot, when he had to send the white up through baulk and back down the table to knock in a red over a corner pocket.

He piled up enough points to leave King needing three snookers but, incredibly, he got them and then potted the pink when, following a safety exchange, Walden left the penultimate colour over the pocket.

King brought the cue ball back down the table towards the black on its spot but the white lodged against the cushion, leaving him a difficult cut.

Needing the black for victory, King held nothing back with the pot and found the centre of the pocket to set up a second-round clash with Robert Milkins.

Ronnie O'Sullivan admitted he faces an ongoing battle with his demons after clinching a second-round clash of the titans with world champion John Higgins.

The world number one, who won last month's Shanghai Masters title, knocked out Scotland's Jamie Burnett.

He was erratic but won 5-3 and will face Higgins tomorrow, after the two giants of the sport were paired together in the unusual unseeded draw at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall.

O'Sullivan made a top break of 126 and three more breaks above 50 but afterwards revealed it remains a challenge for him to enjoy snooker, which is why he played both right-handed and left-handed against Burnett.

‘Playing well is not on my mind at the moment,’ he said, ‘it's just getting through games and trying to enjoy it, hence playing a bit left-handed.

‘The longer I can stay playing the game without feeling like I want to commit suicide the better.’

He said on worldsnooker.com: ‘From the Grand Prix last year I couldn't pot a ball.

‘I know I won a couple of tournaments but I was so inconsistent I didn't know how I was going to play one day to the next.

‘I was just trying to blag my way through games but it's no good for the mind or the nerves if you don't know what's going to come out.

‘As long as I can turn up and play, if I lose it's no big deal. It would be nice to play well and win.

‘If it clicks then happy days, I could start performing and playing really well, but while it's not there I'm not going to dement myself and try and make it, so I'll keep trying a few left-handed.’

Two-time world champion Mark Williams is relishing his last-16 clash with Scotland's seven-time Crucible king Stephen Hendry, after crushing Stuart Bingham 5-0.

Hendry knocked Williams out in the first round of this year's World Championship, and their clash will be an early opportunity for Welshman Williams to gain revenge.

‘Hopefully I can play well against him and give him a thumping,’ said Williams.