THE OPENING day of the Shanghai Masters saw last season’s runner-up Mark Williams cruise to the last 16 with a 5-1 over Mark Davis.

Having recovered from losing the first frame, the Welshman and world number three, who lost to Mark Selby in the final of the competition twelve months ago, never looked in danger of an early exit winning the next five frames to seal victory.

Top breaks of 53, 67 and 88 helped Williams to a convincing win and will play either Wuxi Classic winner Ricky Walden or Steve Davis in the second round.

The other first round encounter today saw an impressive Joe Perry beat world number 13 Matthew Stevens 5-2.

In a high quality match, Perry came out of the blocks early with breaks of 75 and 103 while Stevens also showed his top 16 class with a superb break of 131.

Perry took a 3-1 lead by potting a decisive pink and a break of 57 helped him increase his lead to 4-1.

Stevens pulled a frame back with a break of 89 but it was the world number 23 who clinched victory with a break of 57 and by playing a valuable snooker on the final red.

The opening day also saw a major shock with UK PTC3 finalist Marco Fu crashing out in the wildcard round, losing a deciding frame against Lu Haotian.

Fu’s surprising loss comes a week after the Hong Kong star beat the likes of Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden, Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy to reach the final of the PTC event in Gloucester.

Elsewhere, Steve Davis, Jamie Jones, Robert Milkins and Mark King avoided wildcard upsets beating Zhu Yinghui, Lu Ning, Zhou Yuelong and Zhao Xintong respectively.

And Ryan Day stormed to a 5-0 wildcard round win against Wang Yuchen hitting a century break during the process.