Drago fails to halt Ding

Teenage Chinese sensation Ding Junhui yesterday booked a place in the second round of the British Open with a comprehensive 5-0 win over Tony Drago.

The tournament is the second world ranking event of the season and all of snooker's leading players are competing for the title, including defending champion Stephen Hendry and world no.1 Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Tipped as a future world champion, Shanghai's 17-year-old Ding underlined his full potential at the Brighton Centre with a series of polished strokes and fine defensive play that frustrated the 39-year-old Maltese pro. Ding outpointed Drago by a staggering margin - 463-73.

Last week, Ding cleared three qualifying stages in Prestatyn to make it to the first round against Drago who looked somewhat subdued yesterday after missing some easy shots early on.

Ding, who also qualified for the UK Championship finals stages, now faces crowd favourite Jimmy White in the second round.

In the opening session, Euro Open champion Stephen Maguire overcame a potential banana skin opponent to reach the second round of the £200,000 tournament.

Glaswegian Maguire was pitted against highly regarded Australian left-hander Neil Robertson and recovered from losing two of the first three frames to post a 5-3 victory.

Ali Carter, the world no.19, wasted little time in booking his second-round place as he coasted past Belgian Bjorn Haneveer in only 76 minutes.

Carter fired in breaks of 72, 73, 91 and 64 to complete his 5-0 victory, outpointing Haneveer 385-78.

Joe Perry, a quarter-finalist in last season's World Championship, set a useful target for the highest break prize with a 133 but was beaten 5-4 by Barry Hawkins.

Meanwhile, Totesport, World Snooker's official betting partner, has offered a price of 150/1 against O'Sullivan winning all eight ranking events this season.

O'Sullivan took the first ranking title of the season - the Grand Prix - last month. He has seven to go if he is to complete a unique 'Grand Slam'. No player has ever won every ranking event staged during a season. The record belongs to Hendry who won five in 1990/91.