Chester cueman Ricky Walden came close to completing a stunning fightback but ended up being edged out by Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the Dafabet Masters.

Walden, 32, was 5-1 down to the world number one at Alexandra Palace, London, but showed his resilience to win the next three frames to peg back the Rocket.

Indeed it required O'Sullivan to equal birthday boy Stephen Hendry's all-time record of 775 century breaks to round off a 6-4 win over Walden, who can take heart from a determined display in his opening clash of 2015.

In his fightback, which included one in which he needed two snookers, Walden had the reigning champion and five-time winner looking tense in the televised encounter.

But O'Sullivan got his opportunity in frame 10 and was well past the winning post when an outlandish fluke on the yellow kept alive his run to a 116 clearance and a moment of history.

"You go chasing records and you end up doing it on a fluke." O'Sullivan told BBC Two.

"I'd had a bit of 'run' through the match and thought 'I could fluke this one'."

Walden, who won his third ranking title, the International Championship in China back in November, is next in action on the baize later this month in the Championship League.