UK Championship - Day one - Ding dazzles to begin title defence

They say practice makes perfect, and it's clear the standard of snooker at this year's UK Championship is the highest we've seen for many years.

There's only one reason for that. And it's the positive changes to the snooker calendar. With many more tournaments for players to get their teeth into, it's no surprise to see the quality of snooker has soared in Telford.

Instead of being limited merely to the practice table, players can now play competitive snooker nearly every weekend, with the PTC events coming thick and fast.

On an action-packed opening day of the UK Championship, the centuries were being rattled in. John Higgins made two in as many frames on his return to televised snooker, and Ding Junhui got his title defence off to a fantastic start with a contribution of 135 in the opening frame of the event.

Ding continued his fine form throughout the first session as he raced into a 7-1 lead over Matthew Stevens. It's been a difficult start to the season for the Chinese player, who has yet to find a decent level of consistency in his play. But today, his break building was as good as I've seen it. When he's on song like this, he can land the cue ball on six pence. His positional play was fantastic. He was playing like a champion.

He came back this evening intent on finishing off what seemed a simple task of booking his place in the last 16. He won the first frame, but then spurned a few chances, before eventually crossing the line with a 9-4 win.

The second man to make it to the last 16 was Norther Ireland's highly-fancied Mark Allen. He beat qualifier Tom Ford 9-5 on one of the non-televised tables to show why people are tipping him as an outside to lift the trophy. He's played some impressive matches so far this season, but hasn't yet got it together for an entire tournament. Success here could see him reach his first ranking event final.

Mark Selby overcame what was a tricky opening match on paper against Ricky Walden. Despite being toe-to-toe in the first 10 frames, the Jester from Leicester showed a touch of class in the closing stages to win the match 9-6, and show his ability to perform under pressure again.

Stephen Maguire has a fantastic record at the UK Championship. In his six appearances, he's twice made the semi-finals, once been runner-up and also won the event on another occasion.

He continued his fine form at the venue beating Ken Doherty 9-6 away from the television cameras.

In the day's other matches, world champion Neil Robertson showed he's determined to join an elite list of players who have won both the world and UK champion in the same calendar year, by racing into a surely unassailable 7-1 lead against Rory McLeod. The Aussie lost the first frame but never looked back, as he takes a commanding lead into tomorrow's final session.

Martin Gould confirmed why he's making plenty of waves in the game. He's the only qualifier with a lead over a top 16 player overnight. He leads a tenacious Graeme Dott 5-3, but I'm sure the Scot will put up a fight tomorrow.

Stephen Lee played some of his best snooker for years against Higgins today. Despite losing the first two frames, he brought the score back to 4-4 and is showing signs of taking this match all the way.

In the day's only other game, Peter Ebdon and Andrew Higginson are all square.