2024 Shanghai Masters: Ronnie O'Sullivan opens hunt for fifth straight title with commanding win over Jinjhao Zhou
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Updated 16/07/2024 at 16:37 GMT+1
Ronnie O'Sullivan opened his Shanghai Masters campaign with a 6-1 win over 16-year-old Chinese player Zhou Jinhao to set up a quarter-final showdown with Ding Junhui. O'Sullivan is on the hunt for a fifth successive title in Shanghai and sixth overall. Elsewhere, Jak Jones suffered a shock defeat to amateur Jin Cao while Pang Junxu beat Gary Wilson to continue success for the Chinese contingent.
O'Sullivan seals dominant win with fluke versus teenager Zhou
Video credit: TNT Sports
Ronnie O'Sullivan began his hunt for a fifth straight Shanghai Masters title with an effortless 6-1 win over plucky 16-year-old Zhou Jinhao.
O'Sullivan is already by far the most successful player in the tournament's history and his second-round win sees him through to the quarter-finals, where he faces Ding Junhui next.
Zhou took the first frame to set an impressive start for the teen. O'Sullivan struck back with a frame of his own next, hitting a break of 85.
The young Zhou played fearlessly despite O'Sullivan equalising and then taking the next two frames with a break of 78.
Zhou continued to pot nicely but O'Sullivan was fully in control as he took a fifth frame with a break of 79. O'Sullivan then broke 60 to complete a 6-1 win and secure a painless route into the quarter-finals.
O'Sullivan's young opponent showed incredible potting talent but came up against perhaps the best snooker player to have ever lived, and will take home a valuable learning experience.
"I never take anyone lightly, it's such a tough game. If you don't play well, then everybody else is going to be capable of winning frames. So never take anyone for granted," O'Sullivan said.
"I don't think I could play any better than he played at that stage of my career. It's just experience isn't it, play as many matches as you can in that environment and you'll get much better.
"I love Shanghai, love the format of the tournament, all the best players in the world here. You know you've got play well to win it."
Earlier in the day, World Championship finalist Jak Jones lost to Jin Cao 6-2 as the Chinese amateur reached the second round and earned a meeting with four-time world champion Mark Selby in the last 16.
Three straight frames saw the 39-year-old take a 4-1 lead before closing out the game. Jin is the second amateur in this tournament so far to advance to the second round.
"For amateur players like me, it's enough to be able to come to this stage. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations before the match," Jin said.
"The most important thing is to enjoy the match and atmosphere. Selby is my idol for many years. Honestly, it is my honour to play against him on such a big stage. I just want to enjoy the match."
Success continued for the Chinese as Pang Junxu came from 5-4 down to beat Gary Wilson 6-5, taking the last two frames and hitting a break of 74.
Pang sets up a second-round clash with world No. 1 Mark Allen.
Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui rounded out the morning action as Si beat the Belgian 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals.
The 22-year-old had already made it past Tom Ford in the opening round and posted another impressive performance against Brecel.
Si took the opening frame with a break of 70 before former world champion Brecel notched the next two frames, hitting a break of 87 in the second.
From there, his opponent won five consecutive sets, hitting breaks of 70, 55, 77 and 60.
Judd Trump produced his first win of the tournament by defeating Welshman Mark Williams 6-2.
Trump stormed the opening three frames, notching up breaks of 72, 52 and 67 before Williams took set four with a break of 93.
The former world champion then took his first century of the campaign to clinch his fourth frame, to leave himself two frames away from stepping into the quarter-finals.
Trump diligently took those next two, hitting his second century of the match in the final frame to set up a last-eight clash with Si on Thursday.
And in the final match of the day, home favorite Ding Junhui survived a stubborn fightback from world No. 10 Ali Carter to book a quarter-final clash with O'Sullivan.
Ding's 6-5 win appeared assured midway through the match, with the 2016 World Championship runner-up notching four frames in a row to lead 4-1.
But Carter took four out of the next five to level the contest, including two century breaks either side of Ding moving to within one frame of the last eight.
Then, in the decider, the Chinese potter was not to be denied on home turf, firing in a break of 95 to clinch the match and set up a mouthwatering duel with The Rocket on Thursday, July 18.
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