Ronnie is through to the last 64 round in Edinburg after beating Bai Langning in double quick time yesterday evening. He will face Ben Woollaston in the last 64 round this evening.
World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan fired in a century break in an astonishing three minutes and 34 seconds, just three seconds short of the world record time, on his way to a 4-0 win over Bai Langning at the BetVictor Scottish Open.
The entire victory took just 43 minutes for O’Sullivan to complete. The 39-time ranking event winner was in no mood for hanging around, averaging 11.4 seconds per shot throughout the tie.
After edging a tight first frame, O’Sullivan composed his quickfire break of 118 to lead 2-0. The break narrowly fell short of overturning Tony Drago’s record of three minutes and 31 seconds, which was set at the 1996 UK Championship.
O’Sullivan then added the third frame, before closing out the victory with a break of 56 in the fourth. Next up O’Sullivan faces Ben Woollaston, as he continues his bid to win the Stephen Hendry Trophy for the first time.
“I just felt like I needed to speed up a bit. I needed to try and enjoy it,” said 46-year-old O’Sullivan. “Edinburgh is a nice city. I’ve got some runs sorted out with people who live about here so that will be nice. I’ll try to find a few restaurants, relax and do a bit of reading. I’ll enjoy my time here.”
Initially, the pundits thought that Ronnie’s 118 in frame 2 lasted only 3 minutes and 24 seconds. That however was dismissed later by WST:
Here is the break, shared by WST on their official YouTube channel:
I had mixed feeling watching the match. At times it looked like Ronnie didn’t care wether he won or lost.
At the start of the first frame, he made quite a lot of mistakes and was going for absolutely everything. Some fans were upset, saying he wasn’t giving his opponent enough respect. If I’m honest, I wasn’t feeling comfortable with it either but not so much because of the “lack of respect” thing but because I was wondering if Ronnie’s trip to Bulgaria had maybe left him really tired and with only the desire to get out of there, and out of the tournament, asap. I’m still not sure TBH. It doesn’t matter anyway as he won, even if he won playing pure exhibition snooker. Some of the shots he played were just fantastic. They may not have been the “right” shots in the context of a ranking tournament but it certain entertained the crowd royally.
As for Bai, sitting in his chair during THAT break, he didn’t look overly upset to me, although I may not be the best at reading Asian persons’ facial expression. I may be wrong, but to me, Bai, with a half smile on his face, rather looked like someone thinking “oh well… there are all sorts of natural disasters … thunderstorms, cyclones, volcanic eruptions… and this guy. Nothing I can do. I can as well watch and try to enjoy the spectacle“.
6 thoughts on “2022 Scottish Open – Ronnie wins his first round match”
I went yesterday to see how it goes live, and after how Ronnie started the first frame I hoped I wouldn’t be there to see him lose in person. 😸 He was lucky Bai didn’t present much of a challenge. But the quick century was amazing and I plan to watch it on the screen too. Personally I usually don’t get overly excited just because something is fast, but it was certainly a beautiful century, and this way speed made it even more breathtaking. And it was funny to see Ronnie hurrying around the table.
I liked the venue, but it may not be fun to be on the outside tables, because people move when frames are over, but it means frames on the main table, lol.
Edinburgh is indeed a lovely city, so hope, Ronnie will indeed hang around and won’t make Wollaston the new bogeyman tonight. 😝
The Force of nature strikes again Monique lol. Amazing
Bai Langning has indeed gone through a lot in the last 3 years, snooker-related and off the table. Most recently, his cue was lost in transit when he returned from China. It’s been a bit of a nightmare, and he hasn’t won a match since. One major problem playing against Ronnie is the fear of being humiliated in front of an enthusiastic crowd. It’s an important part of Ronnie’s makeup, so he will do that from time-to-time. If he loses playing that way, then everyone will just put it down to attitude so the result won’t really count…
Actually, the fastest century break record is doubtful. There just isn’t a complete record, even of games that were televised. I saw Marco Fu make an insanely quick century in Austria, when he was suffering from eye problems. He was just getting down and stroking the balls in, with no shot preparation at all. I’m pretty sure that was faster than Ronnie’s last night.
The fastest century break is a weird record anyway. How do you compare a 100 and a 146 for instance? Chances are that the first involved potting significantly less balls than the second. But, it’s a talking point, gets snooker in the media and, for a change, it’s not about controversy.
Is it really weird? I thought it was about the pot through which 100 points are reached or surpassed. So it’s not about 100 or 146, it’s about getting to 100 as quickly as possible and therefore about taking high valued colours?
Well, it is a good talking point but it does noz simply depend on the player, but also on the referee’s speed replacing the balls.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I went yesterday to see how it goes live, and after how Ronnie started the first frame I hoped I wouldn’t be there to see him lose in person. 😸 He was lucky Bai didn’t present much of a challenge. But the quick century was amazing and I plan to watch it on the screen too. Personally I usually don’t get overly excited just because something is fast, but it was certainly a beautiful century, and this way speed made it even more breathtaking. And it was funny to see Ronnie hurrying around the table.
I liked the venue, but it may not be fun to be on the outside tables, because people move when frames are over, but it means frames on the main table, lol.
Edinburgh is indeed a lovely city, so hope, Ronnie will indeed hang around and won’t make Wollaston the new bogeyman tonight. 😝
The Force of nature strikes again Monique lol. Amazing
Bai Langning has indeed gone through a lot in the last 3 years, snooker-related and off the table. Most recently, his cue was lost in transit when he returned from China. It’s been a bit of a nightmare, and he hasn’t won a match since. One major problem playing against Ronnie is the fear of being humiliated in front of an enthusiastic crowd. It’s an important part of Ronnie’s makeup, so he will do that from time-to-time. If he loses playing that way, then everyone will just put it down to attitude so the result won’t really count…
Actually, the fastest century break record is doubtful. There just isn’t a complete record, even of games that were televised. I saw Marco Fu make an insanely quick century in Austria, when he was suffering from eye problems. He was just getting down and stroking the balls in, with no shot preparation at all. I’m pretty sure that was faster than Ronnie’s last night.
The fastest century break is a weird record anyway. How do you compare a 100 and a 146 for instance? Chances are that the first involved potting significantly less balls than the second. But, it’s a talking point, gets snooker in the media and, for a change, it’s not about controversy.
Is it really weird? I thought it was about the pot through which 100 points are reached or surpassed. So it’s not about 100 or 146, it’s about getting to 100 as quickly as possible and therefore about taking high valued colours?
Well, it is a good talking point but it does noz simply depend on the player, but also on the referee’s speed replacing the balls.