Ronnie has qualified for the International Championship in Daqing, China, by beating James Cahill by 6-4 in the last 128 rounds yesterday evening.

Here are the scores, Ronnie first (source Cuetracker)
Scores: 43-68; 105-62; 115(71)-10; 93(88)-0; 63-57; 75(74)-0; 8-73; 27-82; 4-73; 61-0

Ronnie lost the first frame, but then knocked five on the trot to lead 5-1. James then rallied, winning three frames in a row, before Ronnie clinched the tenth for victory.

Overall I was impressed by Ronnie’s attitude although there were a few signs of impatience especially in frame 8. Probably the prospect of facing some 350 km drive to Heathrow after the match had something to do with it. At 5-4 many predicted a decider … which is the thing to expect when Brendan Moore is reffing. But even so, he kept playing the right shots and his safety was generally very good: there were a few gems in there. As usual, he was quite reliable in the balls and didn’t miss many easy ones. The only sore point remains his long game. James played quite well actually especially from 5-1 down; sometimes a player who is far behind just relaxes and finds something. James is a good player, still young but he already claimed some scalps, notably beating John Higgins and Ding Junhui.

Here is Ronnie’s match if you wish to watch it (again)

2016 International Championship: Ronnie O’Sullivan – James Cahill

Ronnie has already arrived in Bulgaria where he will play Mark Selby in two exhibition matches as part of the Eleven30 series.