O'Sullivan overcomes nerves to win opener

11:03pm Tuesday 30th September 2008

World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan secured his place in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters with a nervy 5-2 win over Stuart Pettman - as defending champion Dominic Dale bowed out.

The Rocket is aiming to clinch his third successive ranking event title this week but was given a test in his first-round match by the world number 62.

Preston player Pettman, who qualified through the wild-card round on Monday, levelled things up at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval thanks to a break of 116. He also had a chance to take a 3-2 lead with a break of 31 but O'Sullivan clinched the win with breaks of 73, 60 and 86.

O'Sullivan said: "I felt nervous to begin with because I want to do well in this tournament. The people in China have been good to me so I owe them something. I felt under pressure to win. Maybe I need to relax and enjoy it more."

In the morning session, Dale was dumped out at the first hurdle by six-time world champion Steve Davis.

Dale, the world number 32, claimed last year's title with victory over Ryan Day but was pipped 5-4 by 52-year-old Davis.

Dale raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to a break of 69 in the second but Davis stormed into a 4-2 lead before being forced into a decider.

It was Davis who held his nerve to clinch victory with a break of 54 in the ninth frame, and he will face the winner of Wednesday's match between Ding Junhui and Dave Harold on Thursday.

Former World Championship runner-up Jimmy White's fine run of form was halted by top-16 player Mark King who came from 2-0 behind to win 5-4.

Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry was dumped out at the first hurdle, losing 5-4 to Flintshire's Ricky Walden.

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