WILLIE O'CONNOR produced a sensational performance tonight at the Winmau World Masters to dump Rob Cross out in the first round.
The Magpie was in superb form as he reeled off three sets in succession to beat the former world champion in style.
And the Limerick man saved his best for last as he won the match with a magnificent 151 checkout.
The 3-1 win came after O'Connor had made a slow start to the match by losing the first set 2-0 and also the opening leg of the second set.
However he managed to put the breaks on Voltage by breaking him to win his first leg and then never looked back.
O'Connor levelled up the match on double 6 in the next leg, and took control from there.
He opened the next leg with a 180 as he broke Cross immediately and then wrapped up the third set by taking out 84 on double 6 again.
The Irishman was rampant at this stage, opening the next set with another maximum as he moved just one leg away from the match.
He had a chance to wrap it up on double 5 in the next leg, but was punished by Cross when he missed, to bring the fourth set to a deciding leg.
Despite a bad start to that leg, O'Connor recovered to leave himself on a 151 finish, which he duly took out with a treble 20, treble 17, double top.
Having only qualified for the World Masters yesterday, O'Connor is now into the second round after seeing off the highly fancied Cross, who had only just won the Dutch Masters last weekend, and will fancy a decent run in the tournament now.
He has been joined in the next round by Northern Ireland's Josh Rock, as he wrapped up a 3-1 win over Jermaine Wattimena.
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