UK Championship 2016: Ronnie O'Sullivan romps into second round in 56 minutes

O'Sullivan said he was not taking the early rounds of the UK Championship "too seriously"

Five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan hammered Thailand's Boonyarit Keattikun 6-0 in just 56 minutes to reach the second round of the UK Championship.

O'Sullivan romped into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 63, 129, 80 and 90 and finished off after the interval with two further tons.

"I just try to play and enjoy it and see where it takes me," he said.

Two more ex-champions, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy, also made it through at the York Barbican.

Northern Ireland's Mark Allen also went through when he beat China's Chen Zhe 6-4.

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O'Sullivan echoed world number three Judd Trump's criticism of the early stages of the tournament, calling it a "weird set-up" with play on four tables simultaneously.

"At the moment you've just got to look at it like a knockabout," the 40-year-old Englishman told BBC Sport. "With four tables it doesn't feel right. There's too much going on.

"Two tables is the most you can do without it losing its class. You've got to have fun out there and not take it too seriously."

England's world number six Murphy, the 2008 winner, fought back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Brazil's Itaro Santos 6-3.

But Northern Ireland Open champion Mark King lost 6-2 against fellow Englishman Sam Craigie after being docked a frame in bizarre circumstances.

The 42-year-old - whose win in Belfast was the first ranking success of his 25-year career - forgot his cue following the interval and, after collecting it, was penalised for returning late to the arena.

At 4-1 down King then scored a magnificent 141, the tournament's highest break so far, but world number 94 Craigie took the next two to get over the line.

China's Liang Wenbo, the runner-up in 2015, lost a scrappy first frame against Australian Kurt Dunham but then showed majestic form, scoring two centuries and three breaks of 50 plus on his way to a 6-1 victory.

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