Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams continued their war of words at the CityWest Irish Masters snooker championship in Dublin. Both O'Sullivan and Williams enjoyed relatively simple passages into the second round, with O'Sullivan beating Stuart Bingham 5-3 and Williams overcoming the challenge of Rod Lawler, winning 5-1.
However, following his victory over Bingham, Williams sought to continue the long-running feud by taking a swipe at O'Sullivan. When asked about a comment in O'Sullivan's autobiography in which the Rocket claimed that Williams is unpopular among fellow professionals, Williams said "Stupid people say stupid things."
O'Sullivan then hit back by saying: "Mark should be thankful and feel privileged that he's mentioned in my book.They certainly won't be writing books about him. You only get books written about you if you're great and interesting."
Elsewhere, home favourite Ken Doherty was forced to make a surprise early exit after David Harold got the better of him in a mammoth nine frame match
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Graham Greene was knocked out in this morning's session. Greene took an impressive 4-1 lead in the best nine decider, but Australian ace Quinten Haan fought back to claim a remarkable 5-4 victory and a place in the second round.
In the morning's other matches, former world champion Mark Williams from Wales made a total clearance of 141 en route to a 5-1 win over England's Rod Lawlor, while six times world champion Steve Davis beat compatriot Stephen Lee by a similar score.
TUESDAY'S FIRST ROUND MATCHESResults:
M Williams (Wal) 5-1 R Lawler (Eng)S Davis (Eng) 5-1 S Lee (Eng)
Q Hann (Aus) 5-4 G Greene (NI)R O'Sullivan (Eng) 5-3 S Bingham (Eng)
P Ebdon (Eng) 5-1 B Morgan (Eng) J Swail (NI) 3-5 S Maguire (Sco)
7pm:K Doherty (Ire) 4-5 D Harold (Eng)
TUESDAY'S SECOND ROUND MATCHES RESULTSM Stevens (Wal) 5-4 J Perry (Eng)P Hunter (Eng) 5-4 S Hendry (Sco)
Filed by Rob Wright
