King reigns in Glasgow

Mark King showed no ill effects after his Dublin heroics as he coasted into the second round of the £597,000 (€909,400) Daily Record Players Championship in Glasgow today, beating Jimmy Michie 5-2.

King beat Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White and Ken Doherty to reach the Irish Masters final last week, where Peter Ebdon eventually denied him 10-7.

And the 30-year-old was delighted to keep his golden run of form going.

"To be honest it felt like a bit of an anti-climax after getting to the final last week because I'd gone through so many emotions in Ireland," he said.

"The table was like an ice rink and I struggled to settle down in the first four frames, but after that I got into it and played okay."

King, who led 3-0, clinched the sixth frame with a break of 125 and won a scrappy seventh to set up a second-round clash with UK champion Matthew Stevens.

His turnaround in fortunes is even more incredible given he announced his retirement from professional snooker at last year's Embassy World Championship.

King had been feeling low after his mother, Sandra, was charged with the murder of her cousin, for which she was subsequently jailed for life.

"A year ago I was in the doldrums," he admitted. "I felt like I wanted to kill myself because nobody knew what was going on, only myself and my dad.

"But I've made some sacrifices and worked really hard. Now, I'm reaping the rewards."

Ali Carter, the world number 17 from Tiptree, needed only 81 minutes to complete a 5-1 defeat of Preston's Stuart Pettman.

Carter fired off breaks of 60, 113 and 59 to lead 4-0 and comfortably clinched victory two frames later.

The 24-year-old struggled earlier in the season following a recurrence of health problems linked to Crohn's disease, which he had been diagnosed with, and apparently recovered from, last year.

"The problems were recurring earlier in the season but I'm on a new drug now to keep it under control," said Carter, who provides the second round opposition for 1997 world champion Doherty.