Ronnie O’Sullivan made a mockery of his recent period of inactivity by reeling off three centuries in five frames as he completed a 10-4 win over Ali Carter in the first round of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
The seven-time champion, who has not played on the professional tour since he crashed out of the Championship League in January, looked close to his best as he swiftly set up a last-16 clash against Pang Junxu.
Carter had done well to pull within one by the end of Tuesday’s opening session, but he failed to score a point in the first two frames upon the resumption as O’Sullivan dispatched breaks of 59 and 117 to extend his lead to 7-4. Carter blew it again in the 12th frame, running out of position on 28, and, clearly in no mood to hang around, O’Sullivan produced a clearance of 74 followed by his second century of the day to head into the interval one frame from victory.
It was a far cry from a forgettable opening session in which O’Sullivan had benefited from a series of errors by Carter to carve out his relatively rusty first-day lead. Confirmation of O’Sullivan’s progress duly arrived in the fifth frame of the day as a 131 total clearance wrapped up an ultimately emphatic victory over his former foe.
Pang became the sixth and final Chinese player to reach the last 16 after completing a 10-7 win over his compatriot and 12th seed, Zhang Anda. The 25-year-old was beaten 10-7 by O’Sullivan on his Crucible debut two years ago but has improved since and reached his second ranking semi-final at the Northern Ireland Open in October.
“The pressure was huge at the start and I didn’t perform well in the first session,” Pang said. “But after falling behind, I relaxed and managed to play better. I think I have a chance to win. You learn everything from playing [against top players]. Their shot selection, their response, and how to handle pressure – there’s so much I can learn from them.”
