NANCHANG, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- World No.1 Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson both enjoyed victories on Tuesday in the first round of the 2018 Snooker World Open held in Yushan County, Jiangxi Province, China.
The first six frames were shared between Selby and Elliot Slessor. Slessor came from 3-1 down to 3-3 with a top break of 105, but Selby won two consecutive frames to secure a tough 5-3 victory over his opponent.
"I didn't play well today, Elliot will be disappointed not to win," admitted 35-year-old Selby. "I got through and I can only improve now. I have played Elliot a few times in practice so I know what a good player he is. Hopefully it will be a good season ahead for me," he added.
"I always set myself goals and to try to stay on top of the rankings is one of them. It will be hard because of what I have to defend. I'm still in the tournament so I've still got my lead. Hopefully I can keep the number one spot for as long as possible," said Selby.
Wilson took an easy 5-1 lead over Paul S. Davison to go through the last 32.
The week-long competition offers a total prize of 735,000 pounds with the champion pocketing 150,000.
