World number one and tournament favourite Mark Selby is safely through to the second round of the China Championship thanks to a fine 5-1 victory over Noppon Saengkham while Ronnie O'Sullivan also progressed.

The world champion, who won his qualifying match by the same scoreline on Wednesday, ran in breaks of 64, 57, 78 and 123 during this triumph and will now meet Zhou Yuelong for a place in the third round.

O'Sullivan managed two century breaks - 124 and 100 - and made other runs of 91, 66 and 56 as he brushed aside Sam Baird 5-2 so he certainly looks in good nick ahead of a clash with David Gilbert on Friday.

Marco Fu was the other high-profile name in action on Thursday morning but he had to come from 3-2 down before taking three frames in succession to beat Hossein Vafaei 5-3.

In the afternoon session, Judd Trump registered breaks of 105 and 97 to beat Daniel Wells 5-2, while Ding Junhui signed off with a brilliant 128 to beat Alfie Burden by the same scoreline.

John Higgins also advanced 5-2 against Chris Wakelin, and he too scored a century - this time a 119 in frame five.

THURSDAY AUGUST 17

Afternoon Session (1400 local, 0700 BST)
First Round (Best of nine frames)
TV Coverage: Eurosport 1

Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Sam Baird (Match 26)
Mark Selby 5-1 Noppon Saengkham (Match 8)
Allan Taylor 5-2 Ian Burns (Match 29)
Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Chen Zifan (Match 9)
Martin Gould 5-2 Andrew Higginson (Match 10)
Jimmy Robertson 2-5 Luca Brecel (Match 30)
Hossein Vafaei 3-5 Marco Fu (Match 31)
Mark Allen 4-5 Matthew Stevens (Match 34)

Evening Session (1930 local, 1230 BST)

First Round (Best of nine frames)
TV Coverage: Eurosport 1
Alfie Burden 2-5 Ding Junhui (Match 23)

Judd Trump 5-2 Daniel Wells (Match 24)
Michael White 5-3 Xiao Guoding (Match 33)
Michael Holt 2-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Match 35)
Cao Yupeng 3-5 Ryan Day (Match 36)
Tian Pengfei 2-5 Mark Williams (Match 37)
Matthew Selt 1-5 Tom Ford (Match 38)
Chris Wakelin 2-5 John Higgins (Match 39)