Ronnie O'Sullivan eases into Scottish Open quarter-finals

O'Sullivan was never challenged against White, who he defeated 4-1 in the third round on his way to winning a sixth UK Championship last week making breaks of 92 and 75 to progress.

He will face Higgins in the last eight on Friday night if the four-times world champion beats Ashley Hugill in his last-16 match.

O'Sullivan had battled back from trailing 3-2 to complete a 4-3 win over world number 36 Li Hang in the last 32 of the Scottish Open earlier in the day.

Despite appearing visibly drained at the Emirates Arena, O'Sullivan squeezed through to keep alive his hopes of a fourth ranking victory of the season.

O’Sullivan opened with a break of 70, winning the first frame by 97 points, but Li followed up by restoring parity with a knock of 57 in the second.

O’Sullivan rolled home a lovely break of 103 for a 2-1 lead before appearing to nod off between the third and fourth frames. Li made 53 to level at 2-2 before dominating the fifth to leaving O’Sullivan a frame away from defeat.

But the Rocket found lift-off for the rest of the match as he punished Li's inability to score with runs of 65 and 80 securing O'Sullivan a meeting with Michael White in the last 16. O'Sullivan beat White in the third round on his way to winning a sixth UK Championship in York last week.

O’Sullivan has won three ranking tournaments in the last three months including the Shanghai Masters, English Open and UK Championship where he equalled the record of Steve Davis.