And it was not long before the three-time UK winner won the three frames he needed for an impressive 9-2 victory and a place in the next round of this year’s £590,400 event.

In fact, it took the Chigwell professional just under 27 minutes to make sure of his place in the semis as he outscored his opponent by 233 points in the final three frames of the match.

“I was able to mount sustained pressure and force the openings and force my opponent to try and come out and win it,” said O’Sullivan.

“My break-building has been good this season, and the long-potting came together today as well.

“He’s (Jamie) a good player and one of the up-and-coming players. He’s got a good touch, he plays free-flowing snooker and he makes you think you’re going to be in for a good game.

“You try and raise our game a bit more. The crowd have been fantastic all week and everyone I seem to play seems to raise their game.

“You never expect a result like that, he could have quite easily done what I did to him. I enjoyed it out there, you have to make the most of it when you play like that.”

O’Sullivan took a commanding 6-2 lead over Cope after the opening session of their best-of-17 frame match.

The world number five started the better of the two players and won the opening frame with breaks of 54 and 34.

Cope responded by levelling with a 69 break, before edging into a 2-1 lead with a break of 92.

But O’Sullivan, who famously walked out of his quarter-final clash with Stephen Hendry in York last year, won the next to make it 2-2 thanks to a break of 45 and a 23 clearance.

Refreshed after the mid-session interval, O’Sullivan returned to pocket a superb 137 break to lead for the first time.

And it got even better as a break of 62 made it 4-2 to the two-time world champion.

Cope, twice a ranking event runner-up last season, should have clawed back to 4-3, but broke down on a break of 44 and O’Sullivan won it with a cool run of 94.

There was a chance for Cope to reduce his arrears to 5-3, but he ran out of position on a break of 51 and it was O’Sullivan who pinched the frame with a clearance of 20.

O’Sullivan came back in flying fashion after the resumption and took just over seven minutes to power 7-2 ahead, a break of 82 did the damage.

But the best was yet to come as he so nearly pocketed a memorable maximum 147 break in the 10th and what proved to be penultimate frame.

Chasing his eighth maximum break, O’Sullivan potted 14 red and 14 blacks, but in attempting to double the final red ball missed the pot by a matter of centimetres.

If he had have gone on to get the 147 it would have pocketed him £30,000 in additional prize money, £25,000 for the maximum and £5,000 for the tournament’s televised high-break prize.

It would also have meant O’Sullivan would have equalled Hendry’s record of eight 147s in tournament play, but victory was at the foremost of his mind.

Breaks of 47 and 32 secured victory in the next frame after Cope failed to make a break of 40 count.

Upbeat despite defeat, Cope reflected: “He played well, but I just missed a couple of chances which I’d normally take.

“The turning point was the four frames which I lost to go 6-2 down, it didn’t help me.

“It’s frustrating to see how relaxed he played because I know I can do the same as him. It’s experience, so hopefully I can do it to him one day.”