England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan will be hoping to make a fast start at the China Open and continue his recent strong form when he takes on Scotland’s Ross Muir. The world number two has not been seen in action since March 25 when he won the Players Championship after beating Shaun Murphy. O’Sullivan won the UK Championship at the end of 2017 before securing the World Grand Prix in February.
He is expected to cruise past Muir on Monday and put himself into the next round in Beijing, and is priced at 3.75 to win 6-0. Belgium’s Luca Brecel is also in action as the world No.10 takes on home favourite Cao Yupeng. Brecel was last in action in the Championship League, where he made history by scoring his first 147 in the final frame. It was the 136th maximum in professional snooker and Yupeng will be up against it. However, the 27-year-old reached the final at the Gibraltar Open in March and is capable of pulling off victory.
Allister Carter and Joe Perry are also in action on Monday and they will take on Gary Wilson and Chris Totten respectively. Martin Gould is in action during the afternoon session and he will need to get past Sam Craigie to reach round two. Hamza Akbar takes on Ricky Walden while Stuart Bingham must overcome Matthew Stevens. World number one Mark Selby will do battle against Wang Yuchen while Peter Ebdon and Stuart Harrington will also be looking to make progress.