Ronnie O'Sullivan impresses with classy win in International Championship opener after delay due to safety reasons

ByAlec McQuarrie

Published 03/11/2024 at 13:03 GMT

The Nanjing crowd were made to wait to catch a glimpse of Ronnie O'Sullivan at his flowing best, and they were not disappointed. The Rocket clinched his Round 1 match against Mink Nutcharut with a superb 132 clearance, his second century of the contest. Elsewhere, world champion Kyren Wilson whitewashed Mitchell Mann and Stan Moody was beaten in a thrilling decider by home favourite Xu Si.

Ronnie O’Sullivan sunk two centuries, including a match-winning 132 clearance, to dispatch Mink Nutcharut and march into Round 2 of the International Championship.

Such is the pull of The Rocket that the match had to be delayed by almost an hour to allow for spectators to safely pack out the South New City National Fitness Center in Nanjing.

And despite ceding the opening frame to his Thai opponent, O’Sullivan claimed four in a row to take control of the contest, dazzling the packed main table stands with an early 124.

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But Nutcharut roared back to give the seven-time world champion a scare, picking up breaks of 68 and 81 to go within one frame of levelling the match.

O’Sullivan was not to be denied however, saving his best till last by following up a breezy 69 with a superb 132 clearance.

The 48-year-old will take on home favourite He Guoqiang in Monday’s Round 2, broadcast from 06:30 UK time on Eurosport.

‘This is what they’ve come to see’ – O’Sullivan treats Nanjing crowd to stylish century

Video credit: TNT Sports

Fresh from his triumph at the Northern Ireland Open, Kyren Wilson was in devastating form to see off Mitchell Mann 6-0.

The second seed allowed Mann to put points on the board in every frame, but a trio of half centuries finished off the encounter.

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Mann had the highest break of the match with a final-frame 64, but a sloppy missed red allowed Wilson to pip his opponent by one point with a stunning clearance.

Elsewhere, Si Jiahui and Hossein Vafaei also confirmed their safe progress into Round 2 with 6-4 wins over Andrew Pagett and Dian Zheng respectively.

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Video credit: TNT Sports

Already into the last 32, Xu Si had to come from behind twice to beat teenager Stan Moody in a topsy-turvy 6-5 thriller.

Moody showed great resilience to rattle off three frames in succession from 4-2 down, but Xu edged the tenth to set up a tense decider.

And an accomplished break of 83 was enough to see the Chinese potter over the line.

Joining Xu in Round 3 are compatriots Lyu Haotian and Jiang Jun, while Ryan Day and Matthew Stevens survived their encounters against amateur players Daniel Womersley and Simon Blackwell.

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