Ronnie beat Andrew Pagett by 4-0 in his first “ranking match” of the season, despite a lack of preparation and suffering from tennis elbow again…

These are the scores:

Here is the report shared by Eurosport:

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN BATTLES ELBOW PAIN TO BEAT ANDREW PAGETT AT ENGLISH OPEN …

BY BEN SOUTHBY

Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered the effects of his tennis elbow injury, but did not let it stop him from beating Andrew Pagett in the opening round of the English Open in Brentwood. However, 2021 champion Neil Robertson is out after his tournament came to a shock early end as he was beaten by Sanderson Lam. Mark Allen and John Higgins also progressed to round two.

Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Andrew Pagett 4-0 to reach the second round of the English Open in Brentwood, despite nursing an elbow injury.

Hours after winning a race against the clock to arrive in Essex in time following an exhibition match with Jimmy White in Hong Kong, the 2017 champion started his campaign brightly as breaks of 69 and 62 helped him progress.

Following his whitewash win, O’Sullivan opened up on the severity of his tennis elbow issue to Eurosport’s Alan McManus.

O’Sullivan began to visibly struggle with the pain in the fourth frame and was relieved to put an end to the match as soon as possible.

“That’s the first shot I felt it,” O’Sullivan said as he reviewed one of his power shots in the final frame. “Until then it was alright, and then I thought ‘here we go’.

“A couple of times I had to play a shot with power, long red, and I was just like ‘eugh’. I was trying to squeeze it and do the exercises which you’re supposed to do, but I was happy to just get over the line.”

O’Sullivan pipped a tight opening frame, which Pagett had for the taking until he accidentally went in-off when firing home a difficult brown, paving the way for O’Sullivan to step in and remove the blue.

Pagett returned to the table needing a snooker and both remaining balls but, following a short tactical battle, O’Sullivan delicately potted the pink to put the frame to bed.

With that, Pagett’s chances always looked poor. 

O’Sullivan mustered a break of 69 to take control of the second frame and it was the same story in the third as O’Sullivan raced ahead to quell any hope of a Pagett comeback.

The Rocket would have been pleased to have wrapped up the fourth frame as quickly as he did as the elbow pain started to increase, as he benefitted from some sloppy Pagett play. 

O’Sullivan will have a day’s rest before facing Jackson Page in the second round on Wednesday.

The first frame was really poor from both. Pagett of course is not that used to play on the television table and, as we know, Ronnie didn’t have the best preparation. Knowing that he had that exhibition in Macau, and wanting to minimise the risk of his cue be being damaged, delayed or lost in transport, he had left it in China. To his own admission he had barely practiced, and of course he only arrived back in the UK in the morning. Ronnie though improved significantly from frame 2 on, without playing anywhere near is best. There were signs already that he might not be 100% right as he massaged his arm a few times. In frame 4, he played one power-shot that clearly put him in a lot of pain. He managed to finish the match, but clerly, as he said “It’s no good” …

Here are two videos shared by Eurosport on their YouTube Channel

And here is the report by WST … although it doesn’t add much

O’Sullivan Endures Pain To Give Pagett The Elbow

Playing in a ranking event for the first time this season, Ronnie O’Sullivan eased to a 4-0 win over Andrew Pagett in the opening round of the BetVictor English Open, but admitted that he still suffers from the long-term effects of tennis elbow.

World number one O’Sullivan won the invitational Shanghai Masters earlier this month, but pulled out of the recent BetVictor European Masters and British Open for medical reasons. So today’s fixture was his first in a ranking event since the World Championship in April and he secured victory with top breaks of 69 and 62. The Rocket now meets Jackson Page at 1pm on Wednesday at the Brentwood Centre …

The pain of tennis elbow has plagued O’Sullivan for around 18 months and still flares up regularly. “I have tried resting it,” the 47-year-old told Eurosport after today’s match. “It will be ok once I take painkillers. I don’t want to keep taking them, but I need to in order to be able to commit to shots with power.

“I might need another cortisone injection which would be my third one, but I don’t really want to do that either because it weakens the muscles. It started last year when I went to the gym and lifted too many heavy weights – after that I couldn’t pick up a cup of tea. From that moment it has been very weak and it gets worse whenever I aggravate it.”

O’Sullivan was also asked about last night’s British Open triumph for Mark Williams, a fellow member of the renowned Class of ’92. He replied: “Every time either Mark or John (Higgins) win something then I think ‘I’m still in the game.’ It shows we can still compete. Even with one arm, my eyes are going and I am nearly 50, I’m still performing ok!”