YORK (England), Dec 9: Ronnie O’Sullivan wasted little energy in progressing to the last 16 of the 2001 UK Championship with a resounding 9-2 win over Essex practice partner Ali Carter Saturday.

The Rocket has his sights set on a hat trick and will be hard to beat if he can build on the form he showed in seeing off Carter.

Beginning the second session 6-2 ahead at the Barbican Centre, O’Sullivan swiftly opened up a five-frame lead with runs of 25 and 31.

Carter was in first in the tenth frame with 51 but gave away 19 points in fouls after being trapped in an awkward snooker and the world champion cleared up with 33 to make it 8-2.

British Open quarterfinalist Carter looked set to pull one back but he missed the final red and O’Sullivan made 31 to set up a last-16 match against Dave Finbow.

Jimmy White set up an intriguing last-16 match against Welshman Matthew Stevens which starts Sunday with an impressive 9-6 victory over Marco Fu from Hong Kong.

Leading 5-3, White took the first of the evening session with a 75 before world No 17 Fu cut his arrears to one frame with a 41 in the 10th frame and runs of 63 and 61 in the 11th.

White regained the initiative by winning a scrappy 12th and a 69 in the next put him three up with four to play. Fu pulled one back with a 60 but the London man, whose greatest day in snooker came with victory in the 1992 UK championship, ended the contest with a 66 after his opponent had gone in-off attempting to escape from a snooker.

Paul Hunter came through a tough match against Joe Perry to reach the last 16, winning 9-7.

Hunter began the second session 5-3 ahead and was quickly into his stride with a 70. Perry, from Wisbech, won the next with a 66 but Hunter restored his three-frame lead with runs of 50 and 32.

The local favourite looked set to take the next when 48-0 up, but he missed a mid-range red and Perry eventually won it with an excellent 32 clearance, rolling in the final black along the top cushion.

A quick-fire break of 95 brought Hunter to the brink of victory at 8-5. But his opponent, who saw off Joe Swail, Matthew Stevens, Jimmy White and Mark Williams in Malta, was not prepared to bow out of the tournament without a fight.

Perry stole the next after a long bout of safety ended with Hunter leaving the brown over a corner pocket, and a 58 in the 15th frame cut the gap to one at 8-7.

But Benson and Hedges Masters champion Hunter, ranked 9, held his nerve to close out the contest with runs of 30 and 65 in the next.

Defending champion John Higgins was equally pleased to get through his first match, winning 9-5 against fellow Scot Chris Small .

The opening frame of the session lasted 37 minutes and Small reduced his deficit to 5-4 after Higgins had rattled the final black in the jaws and left it over the opposite corner pocket.

The world No 3 has struggled for form in recent weeks but he took the next three with runs of 65, 38 and 70 to close within one frame of victory.

Small took the 13th with a 49 but Higgins finally showed a glimpse of his brilliant best by knocking in a 136 total clearance, the highest break of the televised stages so far.

Round two:

Ronnie O’Sullivan bt Ali Carter 9-2; Jimmy White bt Marco Fu 9-6; Paul Hunter bt Joe Perry 9-7; John Higgins bt Chris Small 9-5.