WUHAN OPEN 2023: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN CRUISES PAST MARK DAVIS, JOHN HIGGINS STUNNED BY MARK O’DONNELL, DING DUMPED OUT
BY JAMES HILSUM
Ronnie O’Sullivan secured his place in round three of the Wuhan Open in a fairly straightforward manner after overcoming Mark Davis 5-1. Elsewhere, John Higgins was sent packing in round two after losing by the same scoreline to Mark O’Donnell, in a day of shocks following the exits of Mark Selby and Neil Robertson. Meanwhile, Chinese player Ding Junhui lost 5-0 to his compatriot Yuan Sijun.
Ronnie O’Sullivan cruised into the third round of the Wuhan Open after claiming a comfortable 5-1 win over Mark Davis.
It was a second successive 5-1 victory for the Rocket after beating Ken Doherty on Monday, with breaks of 69, 101 and 62 doing the damage.
O’Sullivan will next face Pang Junxu on Wednesday.
The Rocket won the first frame after Davis left a long green over the centre pocket, which he potted, before moving onto the brown and blue to move 1-0 ahead.
That lead was doubled with a break of 69 after Davis relinquished his hope of restoring parity after missing a black, and the Rocket potted the yellow and green.
The world No. 1 was motoring towards a whitewash victory when he extended his advantage with a break of 101 to claim a first century appearance of the week.
Those hopes of a whitewash were extinguished though, as O’Sullivan could only watch Davis build up a very respectable frame-winning break of 75 to get off the mark.
Davis then left a red over the middle pocket and Ronnie motored to break of 68, only to be thwarted be a red himself and give Davis a chance to save the frame.
It would be a brief reprieve though, as Davis failed on a pink, and O’Sullivan cleared up the remaining reds and all the colours up to the black to move one frame away from victory.
The fifth and final frame gave O’Sullivan some nervy moments after he missed a red, before Davis left another over a corner. There was hope for Davis again, as the Rocket missed an awkward blue.
A brief safety battle ensued, before the world No. 1 eventually prevailed 78-50 to win the match with relative comfort.
WUHAN OPEN 2023: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN AFTER MARK DAVIS WIN – I’LL KEEP PLAYING SNOOKER UNTIL I DIE
BY EUROSPORT
Ronnie O’Sullivan insists he is happy to compete on the snooker table even when he is not at his free-flowing best. The seven-time world champion eased into the last 32 of the Wuhan Open in China on Tuesday with a 5-1 win against Mark Davis. He next faces Pang Junxu on Wednesday afternoon. “I love competing. This is a big tournament and you want to do well in the big tournaments,” said O’Sullivan.
Snooker GOAT Ronnie O’Sullivan insists he will happily keeping playing snooker until he dies.
Speaking after his 5-1 win over fellow Englishman Mark Davis in the last 64 of the Wuhan Open on Tuesday, the world No. 1 admitted he has no plans to hang up his cue as long as he is fit and healthy.
“I love the game, I enjoy it,” O’Sullivan told reporters. “Sometimes it frustrates me, but I love the game, so why not? Keep playing until I die.“
“I can’t really comment on my form. I’m just playing and trying to be resilient,” said O’Sullivan as he remained in the hunt for the £140,000 first prize.
“I try to fight for every ball and every match. You don’t always play great, but sometimes you have to find a way to win.
“I love competing. This is a big tournament and you want to do well in the big tournaments.”
“I don’t look no further than my next match,” added the Shanghai Masters winner, whose last ranking title success came with his seventh world title victory in May 2022.
“Sometimes you win, but I lose in 90% of the tournaments I play in.
“I probably win one in 10. So you try to do well in the big tournaments. When we play in a venue like this, good crowd and good venue, it makes you want to play well.
“That is what is important to the top players when you have a good crowd watching..the top players usually respond to that occasion.”
And they shared the end of the match on their YouTube channel
There were alsome some pictures shared on weibo
That came on a day where Ding Junhui, Mark Selby, John Higgins and Neil Robertson all bowed out, whilst a lot of Chinese players, including young ones, are doing well.
Neil Robertson admitted that being away from his family has been taking his toll on him and he intends to skip a few events to to back to Australia for some family time.
Meanwhile the sport we love is facing a major crisis and I’m not sure that WST answer to it is the right one but that’s for another post probably later today …
3 thoughts on “The 2023 Wuhan Open – Ronnie wins on Day 2”
Actually I have no problem with a single sentence report on what was a routine win by Ronnie. There were a lot of other very interesting matches, and several fairly weighty upsets, notably to Ding Junhui.
Yes, it does look like many Chinese players are doing very well, playing with uncharacteristic confidence. Xu Si would never have won that match if it were played in the UK, whilst Xing Zihao and Gong Chenzhi had their first wins at this level. Yuan Sijun and Zhou Yuelong (for the second match running) scored 3 centuries. Perhaps there is a feeling that finally this is an event that ‘belongs’ to them, rather than to their opponents.
Once again, we are hearing that the event is efficiently run, the players are treated very well, and the crowds are enthusiastic. Wuhan is a great city, which will be forever trying to escape the shadow of covid.
Why don’t you criticise James Hilsum, because who is Mark O’Donnell?
Good question. Probably a close friend to Martin Davis.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Actually I have no problem with a single sentence report on what was a routine win by Ronnie. There were a lot of other very interesting matches, and several fairly weighty upsets, notably to Ding Junhui.
Yes, it does look like many Chinese players are doing very well, playing with uncharacteristic confidence. Xu Si would never have won that match if it were played in the UK, whilst Xing Zihao and Gong Chenzhi had their first wins at this level. Yuan Sijun and Zhou Yuelong (for the second match running) scored 3 centuries. Perhaps there is a feeling that finally this is an event that ‘belongs’ to them, rather than to their opponents.
Once again, we are hearing that the event is efficiently run, the players are treated very well, and the crowds are enthusiastic. Wuhan is a great city, which will be forever trying to escape the shadow of covid.
Why don’t you criticise James Hilsum, because who is Mark O’Donnell?
Good question. Probably a close friend to Martin Davis.