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Ronnie O'Sullivan raced into the last 16 of the Welsh Open with a comprehensive 5-1 victory over Stuart Bingham at Newport.

With little regard for safety play, the world number one wasted no time in clearing the colours to take the first frame 88-38 and O'Sullivan made another half-century break to grab the second.

He could barely contain himself while the colours were respotted at the close of the third and his break of 89 saw him comfortably through 89-9.

Bingham failed to take advantage of some loose play from O'Sullivan until the fourth frame, and when his opponent missed on 44, Bingham was given a lifeline and made no mistake to snatch the frame 53-45.

Bingham was again guilty of a miss on the black, but if he felt the green against the cushion would be enough insurance, O'Sullivan had other ideas and cleared up to narrowly win the fourth 61-53.

The sixth frame was painful for the underdog as O'Sullivan played exhibition snooker to pot a long yellow and despite the final black being thumped onto the floor, O'Sullivan took the frame 82-46 to set up a meeting with either Ding Junhui or Jamie Cope.

World number 11 Mark Allen won his match 5-2 but looked like he might be in for a shock as qualifier Tom Ford took a 2-0 lead.

But Allen made 58 to take the third 62-11 and his second half-century break won the fourth 64-8 to even things up.

Allen edged ahead by winning the fifth frame 69-49 and when a fluke red off Ford's snooker gave Allen the opening in the sixth, he finished the frame off, 101-46.

Ford threw in the towel in the seventh at 90-20 down, interrupting Allen's break of 29 while he lined up the blue, leaving Allen to face the winner of Shaun Murphy v Matthew Stevens.

In the other early match, Mark King beat Marcus Campbell 5-1.

A break of 51 saw the world number 16 through the first frame 70-10, while a second frame lasting some 80 minutes eventually ended with King winning 78-49.

In contrast, King took the third and fourth in no time and although Campbell fought back to take the fifth 71-60, King made no mistake in the sixth to book his place against Mark Selby or Judd Trump.

Welsh Open: Every day LIVE from 1pm on British Eurosport 2 (Sky 411 / Virgin 525) and Eurosport Player.

Ian Hare / Eurosport