Ronnie O’Sullivan started his 2019/20 Snooker season underway in a perfect fashion, with a comfortable defeat over Zhang Yi 6-0 in the second round of the Shanghai Masters in just 1hr 32s.
The Rocket is in China to defend his Shanghai Masters title and appears to be in good form.
He was not put under much stress at all by the Chinese amateur, who shocked Ali Carter on Monday to make it through to this stage, but it was still a composed and impressive performance from the 43-year-old.
The most exciting part was the five-time World Champion made his 1,010th career century in the fifth frame as he quickly rolled in 136 immediately.
However, he wasn’t done with his break-building there, making 132 in the final frame to round up the match with aplomb before signing autographs for Chinese fans.
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s performance in Shanghai got the 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson extremely impressed, and he said after the match:
‘He’s just got the speed of the table to perfection, spot on with his position each time,’
‘If you look where the cue ball is going each time, it’s absolutely perfect, just where he wants to be.
‘We didn’t know how he was going to play in his first tournaments of the season, but to me, he looks really sharp.’
Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ O’Sullivan will now encounter either Kyren Wilson or Xiao Guodong in the quarterfinals as he looks for a third construction title in the Shanghai Masters.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is also the defending champion in Shanghai, will now look forward to winning the tournament back to back
This was also his first match as Ronnie had not played this season, with his last match also coming against an amateur, when he was taken by
surprise in the first round of the World Championship by James Cahill.
If O’Sullivan is lucky enough to pick up the top prize of 200,000 pounds this week, then he will take his total career prize money way past 11,000,000 pounds.
The “Rocket” has won the last two editions of the event, though, and still eager to defend his crown.
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is a huge favorite at Shanghai and is priced at 2.70 to defend his title.
Written by: Aruorihwo Imisa