Mark King made an unlikely come back from 4-1 down to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 in the last 32 of the German Masters on Day One of the tournament. O'Sullivan won the Masters for the seventh time just ten days ago, but his game deserted him in the closing stages tonight as he lost the last four frames in a row. In fact King has been something of a bogey player for O’Sullivan over the years, with Romford’s King beating his Essex rival in five of their nine meetings.

Breaks of 74, 69 and 81 helped O’Sullivan build a 4-1 lead tonight, then King made 93 and 77 to recover to 4-3. O’Sullivan had chances to win the match in each of the next two frames but couldn’t take them. The decider came down to the last red and King, leading by 22 points, potted it and cleared to the pink for victory.

King now meets Tom Ford, who also had cause to celebrate as he made the third 147 of his career during a 5-2 win over Peter Ebdon. Leicester’s Ford becomes one of only 12 players to have made three or more official maximums.

It was a crucial win for Ford in his bid to qualify for next week’s Ladbrokes World Grand Prix in Preston.

Martin Gould made a successful start to the defence of his title as he beat RKG Snooker sponsored Jamie Jones 5-0. Breaks of 61, 126 and 66 helped Londoner Gould to a comfortable victory.

Ryan Day top scored with 71 in a 5-1 win over Mark Allen while Ali Carter made a 112 in a 5-1 defeat of Stephen Maguire.

Finland’s Robin Hull trailed Jimmy White four times but hit back to win 5-4, making 125 and 51 in the last two frames.

In a very close match of the day Ricky Walden beats John J Astley by 5-4. Zhao Xintong comprehensively beats Akani Songsermsawad by 5-0 to enter in last 16 and will play Alister Carter.