Ronnie won his opening match yesterday afternoon against an ailing Tom Ford.

There is always a lot of pressure on the defending champion in the first round and the conditions are always a bit of an unknown. Ronnie’s performance was patchy, despite a good 101 in frame 3, as Jimmy White said on Eurosport, it was a mixed bag of excellent shots and schoolboy errors. But he is through and it’s all that matters. This evening he will face Mark Davis in the last 64.

One thing that’s definitely positive is Ronnie’s attitude: he kept trying and stayed patient all along … and his patience was seriously tested, by his own mistakes and by the referee’s inability to replace the balls at one point in the match.

Ronnie also stood by his word and kept his postmatch press conference with Worldsnooker minimal. He was, however, more open in the studio later in the evening.

Here are a few images thanks to Tai Chengzhe

Videos of interest:

The match preview with the ES pundits, including an interview with Ronnie and some recollection of the infamous 146…

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BBC Wales preview:

The match:

Ronnie’s interview with BBC Wales after the match:

The preview of the evening session. Ronnie is in the studio and, at the start of the preview, Ronnie honestly assesses his performance and speaks about his hopes for the remaining part of the tournament.

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