Frame one:

Peter Ebdon was the first player to come in and play. He showed off his great defensive tactics at 24 points, but Ronnie O’Sullivan wasn’t far behind, won the defence duel and took the frame.

Frame two:

Ebdon missed a long red ball and let O’Sullivan in. O’Sullivan missed at 34-0 but got away by the skin of his teeth. He started racking up points soon after and won another frame.

Frame three:

Ebdon was the first player to start making points but it wasn’t long before O’Sullivan returned to the table to end the frame with a 114 break.

Frame four:

Ebdon was contemplating the situation, trying to come up with a way to turn the tables on O’Sullivan. At the beginning of the frame it wasn’t obvious who was going to take it. Neither player could really find anything to play on. O’Sullivan presented Ebdon with a tricky shot behind the brown ball. Ebdon missed it, O’Sullivan then went on to miss as well and Ebdon was free to make a couple of points. However, after a situation with a red ball close to the cue ball, Ebdon accidentally touched the red with his cue and the referee called foul. O’Sullivan was then back in the frame but missed at 56-24 on a difficult red. Ebdon scored another eight points and then played a safety shot. O’Sullivan was snookered and missed three times. Ebdon missed a tricky red, O’Sullivan potted it but failed on the last yellow. Ebdon couldn’t pot it either and after a few turns O’Sullivan potted the yellow ball and went on to win the frame.

Frame five:

The fifth frame was all Ebdon’s altogether but he still had a lot to catch up on.

Frame six:

O’Sullivan played a safety shot on a red ball which resulted in a situation that could only lead to a re-rack. Ebdon’s long pot game was terrible in this frame while O’Sullivan’s was quite okay. He was definitely the better player here and it became more and more obvious as they carried on. Ebdon wasn’t able to take the chances he was given. This meant another frame victory for O’Sullivan who now went to 5-1.

Frame seven:

Ebdon missed another important red. It really hurt to see his technique in this much of a bad shape. O’Sullivan on the other hand only seemed to play better when he had the upper hand. However, Ebdon finally found some form here and managed to get control over the white ball. He managed to make 47 points before he missed an easy red again. As soon as Ebdon got another chance he seemed to blow it on a long red. This just wasn’t Peter Ebdon’s day. It was finally down to the blue ball that Ebdon potted with quite a bit of luck to leave O’Sullivan needing snookers. Frame seven went to Ebdon.

Frame eight:

Another fatal miss on a long red ball by Ebdon. O’Sullivan soon became busy at the table again and ended this first session with a 118 break. 6-2 to O’Sullivan. This match resumes tonight at seven.