Ronnie O’Sullivan extended his winning streak to 15 matches, with a narrow 5-3 defeat of Alfie Burden to earn his place in the final stages of the World Open.
The Rocket has been in imperious form of late, winning three consecutive titles at the UK Championship, Masters and the World Grand Prix. However, world number 98 Burden provided a stern test this evening.
With O’Sullivan leading 3-2, it was Burden who fired in a superb century run of 104 to restore parity at 3-3. However, seven-time World Champion O'Sullivan stepped up and made breaks of 83 and 58 to take the next two and book a spot in the final stages of the world ranking event, which will run from March 18-24 in Yushan, China.
Kyren Wilson put on a blistering display to brush aside Jimmy White 5-0. The Warrior compiled three consecutive century runs of 114, 113 and 121 to start the match and went on to secure the whitewash win.
Shaun Murphy whitewashed Mohamed Ibrahim 5-0, firing in runs of 127 and 112. Iran’s Hossein Vafaei beat tour rookie Liam Pullen 5-2, while in-form Ali Carter defeated Ahmed Elsayed 5-1.