Yesterday, Ronnie beat Liu Linhao, a young wildcard, by 6-1 but it wasn’t as straightforward as the score suggests and Ronnie was full of praise for his young opponent afterwards.
Seven-time Crucible King Ronnie O’Sullivan got his season underway with a 6-1 win over wildcard Liu Linhao at the Shanghai Masters, before declaring that the 2028 World Championship is likely to be his last.
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The Rocket, who turned 50 last December, stated earlier this year that a potentially record breaking eighth world title was the target for the rest of his career. An epic 13-12 loss at the hands of old rival John Higgins in this year’s event put paid to his chances of achieving that in 2025.
Talented 18-year-old wildcard Liu was making his World Snooker Tour debut and showcased his potential during the game, including a fine break of 88 to make it 1-1. However, unforced errors crept in and his illustrious opponent punished with runs of 73, 71, 75 and 55 to get over the line and book a mouth watering meeting with defending champion Kyren Wilson.
“I’d love to win another World Championship. I have two attempts at it. If I can find a bit of cueing or some form at Sheffield you never know. If I don’t do it this year or the next it will definitely never happen. I’m happy with my career and how things have gone. I want to enjoy these next two years. I’ll reassess in 2028 and if things are really going well, you can maybe extend it. I have to be realistic though,” said 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan.
“I’m 50 now and if I play for two hours I then have to lie down for two or three hours. It is very hard for me. Ok, you don’t have to run around a football pitch but mentally you have to concentrate. When you are younger you can do that for hour upon hour.
“At the start of the game I thought he wasn’t very good. He had a couple of chances and missed them. Once he started cueing and potting balls I realised this kid is definitely one for the future. He is a phenomenal cueist. I can’t cue the ball like these guys. They are incredible these young Chinese players.
“I’m glad I’m at the end of my career and I don’t have to face them. They are like machines. There are the obvious ones like Wu Yize, Ding and Zhao Xintong, but there are just so many incredible players now.“
Chinese legend Ding Junhui blitzed to a 6-2 win over wildcard Yao Dongcheng to book a blockbuster showdown with 2025 World Champion Zhao Xintong.
Ding put on a break building masterclass, with four century runs of 103, 125, 140 and 108 to sweep aside his inexperienced counterpart.
Next up the 39-year-old will face a far sterner test. He’s lost his last three meetings with Zhao, including at this event last year and most recently at the World Championship.
Zhou Yuelong came back from the brink to overhaul four-time World Champion Mark Selby 6-5 in a tremendous contest. Consecutive runs of 91, 113 and 112 put Selby 5-4 ahead from 4-2 down. However, Zhou hammered in contributions of 83 and 107 to take the last two and book a last 16 tie with Shaun Murphy.
Xiao Guodong beat Xu Jiarui 6-5 and progresses to face Neil Robertson, while a 6-0 win over Tang Hewen for Chris Wakelin sees him go on to play Mark Williams.
And here are the detailed scores for Ronnie’s match:
As you can see, Liu actually made the highest break of that match, a match that fearured no century.
Hereafter two videos shared on Youtube, by WST and TNT respectively. They feature the first and the last frames of the match.
Today, Ronnie will face Kyren Wilson and he will need to play better if he is to go deep in the tournament.
The only surprise yesterday was the elimination of Mark Selby … if it can be branded a surprise at at all because his opponent, Zhou Yuelong, is a quality player. Between them they scored eleven breaks over 80, mind you, including four centuries.
