Ronnie O'Sullivan showed no hangover from his recent British Open final defeat against Stephen Hendry by crushing Ian McCulloch 9-3 in his opening match at the Travis Perkins UK Championship today.
O'Sullivan laid the foundations for his opening win at York's Barbican Centre yesterday by taking seven of the first eight frames.
That left 2002 British Open finalist McCulloch with a mountain to climb - and he made it only to the foothills by winning the first two frames on the resumption with breaks of 104 and 75.
O'Sullivan was not about to collapse and secured his meeting against Glaswegian Alan McManus with back-to-back breaks of 126 and 115 to go with yesterday's 140 clearance.
McManus came from 7-1 down to stun Welshman Dominic Dale 9-8 in his first match on Thursday.
But O'Sullivan, three times a UK champion, said: "I am a different proposition. He has got to face me now." The Chigwell star was in typically enigmatic mood, adding: "I am on a new sort of journey.
"I don't know where it's going to end up. We'll have to wait and see."
Asked whether he thought last night's shock defeat of defending champion Mark Williams would help his chances of lifting the trophy again, O'Sullivan said:
"I want the best players to still be in the tournament. I want to push myself against the best players, although I wouldn't class myself as a top player.
"I'd say I'm round about eighth, but it suits me to be the underdog."
Then speaking in the third person, O'Sullivan added: "Treat Ronnie kind, because he is quite a nice geezer!"
The shock results continued when James Wattana beat world number four John Higgins 9-4 in their second-round match.
Higgins tried to keep alive his hopes but the Asian ace joined Dubliner Fergal O'Brien and Nigel Bond - conqueror of 2001 and 2002 UK runner-up Ken Doherty - as a surprise second-round winner.