Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry dominates the group stages

Yesterday evening the group stages were finished and the field is now down to 16 players. Even though the short matches and the group stages format is most exciting for the audiance - the disadvantages of the format became obvious in i e the match Ding Junhui vs Joe Perry - where Junhui were out of the tournament if Perry won one frame (Junhui didn't seem to excited to be there after Perry won the first frame...).

The most impressive performance in the group stages came from Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry. O'Sullivan won all his 5 matches in his group looking most confident and in great form. Joe Perry lost only one of five matches in his group - Stephen Maguire (3-1), Ding Junhui (3-0), Mark Allen (3-0), Andrew Norman (3-0), Graeme Dott (2-3).

Stephen Hendry, Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy failed to advance from the group stages.

Here are the matches in the next round:

ALAN McMANUS Winner Group 2A - MARK SELBY Runner up Group 2E

RYAN DAY Winner Group 2B - IAN McCulloch Runner Up Group 2F

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN Winner Group 2C - DAVID GRAY Runner Up Group 2G

NEIL ROBERTSON Winner Group 2D - ANDREW NORMAN Runner Up Group H

MATTHEW STEVENS Winner Group E - JOHN HIGGINS Runner Up Group A

STEPHEN LEE Winner Group F - MARK KING Runner Up Group B

ROBERT MILKINS Winner Group G - JAMIE COPE Runner Up Group C

JOE PERRY Winner Group H - KEN DOHERTY Runner Up Group D

Follow the results on www.worldsnooker.com, bbc sport, or on globalsnookercentre.