Judd Trump turned on the magic to get his 888 Welsh Open title challenge off to a flying start yesterday.

The Bristol potter cruised to a 4-0 first round whitewash of Dubliner Fergal O‘Brien in their first round clash at the Newport Centre.

His victory set up a last 16 showdown with either one of two Londoners, Mark King or Stuart Bingham on Thursday at the latest ranking tournament on the calendar.

But despite impressing without dropping a frame, this season’s UK Championship winner Trump stressed he was “steady” rather than spectacular.

“It was nothing brilliant, but you just want to win your first round match,” said Trump, who triumphed in just 68 minutes. “I was steady, it’s good to get through.

“Luckily for me Fergal made a few mistakes and I capitalised. It was a tough match for me, but I came through pretty easily.”

Trump finished in style with a trademark century break to fire him into the business end of this year’s £201,500 tournament having earlier pocketed runs of 58 and 61.

“It’s always nice to finish the match strongly,” added Trump. “There was a decent crowd for a Monday morning, so it was nice to play a few fancy shots for them when I could.

“You feel like the crowd are waiting for things to happen. They want you to go for shots, which are sometimes daft, but you’ve just got to be patient and make sure you don’t get carried away.

“You take on those difficult shots when you’re feeling confident and hopefully they go in. But you can’t afford to be too reckless. At the end of the day it’s better to be in the next round and then you can probably go for a few more shots.

“It’s nice to have a lot of fans on your side. It’s nice to travel all over the world and to have people recognise you and want you to win.

“It makes me feel more welcome when you’ve got that support, it makes me want to keep winning.”

And Trump knows he’ll have to be on his game if he’s going to book a place in the quarter-finals when he faces either Bingham or King later this week.

“They’re both steady players and been around for a long time, it’s going to be a tough match whoever I play,” said Trump.

“Mark’s been in the top 16 quite a few times and been there and done it. Stuart has really come through in the last couple of seasons and is full of confidence at the moment, so it will be a tough game.

“It’s just nice to be in the next round so I can sit back now and watch them battle it out.”

Six-times world champion Steve Davis rolled back the years as he made two centuries to edge out Ali Carter 4-3.

Carter led three times in the all-Essex clash, but Davis’ tactical mind remains sharp and he managed to ally it with a wonderful display of break-building.

Carter led 1-0 after a 68 and, after Davis responded with 61 to level the match, the world number 11 moved ahead once more.

Davis produced a vintage 121 clearance, though, to leave the players level once more at 2-2.

He had to come from behind again after Carter took frame five with an 83, but he levelled with 63 and then produced his second century clearance, 117, to take the match.