Ronnie won his first match since losing in the semi finals at the 2025 World Championship, as did the man who beat him that time, the reigning World Champion Zhao Xintong.

Here is the report by shared by WST

World Champion Zhao Returns With Victory

World Champion Zhao Xintong made a triumphant return to the World Snooker Tour, beating Chris Wakelin 6-2 in front of a raucous home audience at the Shanghai Masters.

A crowd of just under 2,000 fans turned out this evening, despite Shanghai being hit by a typhoon and subject to a tsunami warning earlier in the day.

They witnessed Zhao’s first appearance since becoming China’s first Crucible king back in May. The 28-year-old beat Mark Williams 18-12 in the final to become World Champion. This evening’s victory sets up a blockbuster meeting with Chinese legend and trailblazer Ding Junhui.

The first four frames were shared, before Zhao pulled away from world number 16 Wakelin. Breaks of 103, 65, 73 and 59 saw him take four in a row and secure victory.

Zhao said: “I’m really happy, because I’ve been looking forward to this match for a long time. It was my first game of the season and here at home. It is also my first time playing on Chinese soil in several years, so I was very excited. I knew there would be some pressure, but overall I think I played quite well.

“I played intensely for a month at the World Championship and that was pretty much my entire season last year. I actually ended up wanting to play snooker again soon after. Over the last two months I’ve taken some time off and done things I haven’t done before. It gave me a chance to reset and have a fresh start. I think today was a good beginning.

“I played Ding a few times many years ago. Back then I was just a young fan playing my idol. Now my level has improved and I can compete with him a bit more. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know what will happen, but I hope it is a good match. When I play Ding, winning or losing doesn’t really matter any more. What matters is that the fans enjoy the show.”

Seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan prevailed in a 6-5 thriller with Barry Hawkins to set up a quarter-final clash with world number two Kyren Wilson.

The Rocket mustered a match winning break of 67 in the deciding frame to seal his progression and avenge a 6-4 loss to Hawkins in their last meeting at the 2024 UK Championship. 

This was O’Sullivan’s first appearance since losing 17-7 at the hands of Zhao in the semi-finals of the World Championship. After this evening’s game the 41-time ranking event winner was delighted with how he performed

O’Sullivan said: “I’m pleased to have won the match. Barry played pretty well and I played the best I’ve played since I won the World Championship in 2022. That was a good performance and I could have lost it as well.”

Former Shanghai Masters winner Ali Carter produced a stunning four frame blitz to overhaul three-time World Champion Mark Williams and emerge a 6-5 victor.

The Captain trailed 5-2 when he hit top gear, hammering home breaks of 93, 78, 87 and 132 to turn the match on its head and score a brilliant fightback victory.

Carter was a late entrant to the event, having earned a place thanks to Mark Allen’s withdrawal. Back in 2020 the Essex cueman made the final of the Masters, capitalising on a last minute spot in the tournament when Ronnie O’Sullivan dropped out.

He now faces Xiao Guodong, who came through a tightly fought clash with John Higgins 6-4 to earn his place in the quarter-finals.

Here is the last frame of Ronnie’s match shared by WST on YouTube

I’m very pleased, not just because Ronnie won, but also because he was happy with his performance. It’s been a long time since he last sounded so positive about his game.

Here are the scores for this match:

Here are some images shared on weibo:

Ronnie is big in China, his nickname is “the Teacher” and nobody forgets how he helped a distraught Ding who was abused by some idiots in the crowd at the 2007 Masters.

Wang Chuqin is a top top table tennis player, a former World and Olympic Champion. He gave a signed table tennis bat to Ronnie as a token of his admiration for him and Ronnie in return offered a signed cue in its case. 💖