Rocket's revenge on Fu complete

Ronnie O’Sullivan avenged his most disappointing defeat of 2003 by beating Marco Fu 5-1 to reach the second round of the European Open at the Hilton Conference Centre in Malta today.

O’Sullivan was beaten by Fu in the first round of the Embassy World Championship 11 months ago despite recording a second Crucible 147.

But there were no such problems for the ’Rocket’ in his latest meeting with the Hong Kong potter.

O’Sullivan opened the contest with a break of 110 and played solidly to carve out victory with Fu mustering only one break of more than 40.

O’Sullivan said: “It was a win and it’s nice to be in the next round but it wasn’t a flowing sort of game.

“It’s not just about potting balls. You have to have an all-round game and I know I can play the tactical side of it.

“I prefer to get amongst the balls and score big breaks but sometimes you just have to enjoy the struggle.”

O’Sullivan, the world number three, is defending the European title after beating Stephen Hendry 9-6 in the 2003 final at Torquay.

The 28-year-old has reached the semi-finals at least in the last four tournaments, winning the Welsh Open and finishing runner-up in the Masters and the British Open.

He now faces Edinburgh’s Chris Small for a place in the quarter-finals after the 2002 LG Cup winner defeated reigning UK champion Matthew Stevens 5-0.

Small, who suffers from degenerative disease of the spine, needed a steroid injection just to make the trip but produced a dogged performance to cause the first shock of the tournament.

“My specialist says he will give me an injection for any big tournament but that I’ll suffer later in life,” Small said.

“I’ll just have to deal with that at the time. The main thing for me is playing.

“I didn’t feel good coming here because I’ve been feeling fine one minute and depressed the next but this is a great result and I hope to stay out here for as long as possible.”

Joe Perry, who reached the final of the last European Open to be staged in Malta in 2001, recovered from 3-1 down to beat Derby’s David Roe 5-3.

“I felt like a different player after the interval,” he said.

“I had plenty of chances in the early part of the match but didn’t take them. However, I started to play a bit better and settled down a bit.”