Mark Williams returned to where it all began in style after breezing through to the second round of the Northern Ireland Open.

The Welshman eased past Alfie Burden 4-2 in Belfast – his first match as defending champion having lifted the Alex Higgins Trophy 12 months ago.

That marked a first ranking win in six years and something of a resurgence for the Cwm cueman, going on to win the World Championships in the same season.

But Williams knows those dizzy heights aren’t going to be easily matched.

“This was the ranking tournament that started off my unbelievable season – what a turnaround I had in 12 months,” he said. “I know I’m not going to have another season like that because the standards are too good.

“I didn’t think I would enjoy myself as much as I did last year. I was certainly making up for lost time.

“I missed a lot of chances [in this match] and I could have easily been on my way home tonight, now I’ll get in as much practice as I can on the tables.

“I had three one-frame visits which is okay but in between it was loose, Alfie got a few chances to punish me and I was lucky that he didn’t.”

Williams opened the scoring but Burden – seeding 106th for this competition – pegged him back at 1-1 with a break of 70.

Williams then found his form to register breaks of 91, 69 and 91, but knows he’ll have to improve if he wants to get past Ali Carter in the next round.

Watch the Northern Ireland Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jimmy White and Neal Foulds