Ronnie O’Sullivan made a mockery of his recent period of inactivity by reeling off three centuries in five frames as he completed a 10-4 win over Ali Carter in the first round of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
The seven-time champion, who has not played on the professional tour since he crashed out of the Championship League in January, looked close to his best as he swiftly set up a last-16 clash against Pang Junxu.
Carter had done well to pull within one by the end of Tuesday’s opening session, but he failed to score a point in the first two frames upon the resumption as O’Sullivan dispatched breaks of 59 and 117 to extend his lead to 7-4.
Carter blew it again in the 12th frame, running out of position on 28, and, clearly in no mood to hang around, O’Sullivan produced a clearance of 74 followed by his second century of the day to head into the interval one frame from victory.
It was a far cry from a forgettable opening session in which O’Sullivan had benefited from a series of errors by Carter to carve out his relatively rusty first-day lead.
Confirmation of O’Sullivan’s progress duly arrived in the fifth frame of the day as a 131 total clearance wrapped up what was an ultimately emphatic victory over his former foe.
Speaking after his win, O’Sullivan said: “I didn’t have any expectations here so there was really no nerves going through the body. I didn’t expect to perform well, based on the last three or four years. I just wanted to make a little bit of a game of it.
“I just think this game has a way of humbling you in so many ways. I’ve had it over the years. you might go a year, two years where your game’s just not there and a lot of self doubt creeps in.
“This one’s probably been the hardest one of all. I want to play for as long as I can. If everything goes great I could probably get five to six years, if it doesn’t I’ll still commit to two years and just focus on playing and give myself every opportunity to try and finish on a nice feeling. The sport’s been good to me, I love the game. That’s the plan.”
Meanwhile Carter was left frustrated with his display.
Carter said: “I was always in it at 5-4 but Ronnie got going and I just seemed to find myself in awkward positions. I split the pack a couple of times and missed a couple of blacks off the cushion when I couldn’t really get on anything. It just went from bad to worse and it sort of begins to get a little bit embarrassing out there.”
Pang became the sixth and final Chinese player to reach the last 16 after completing a 10-7 win over his compatriot and 12th seed, Zhang Anda.
The 25-year-old was beaten 10-7 by O’Sullivan on his Crucible debut two years ago but has improved since and reached his second ranking semi-final at the Northern Ireland Open in October.
“The pressure was huge at the start and I didn’t perform well in the first session,” Pang said. “But after falling behind, I relaxed and managed to play better.
“I think I have a chance to win. You learn everything from playing (against top players). Their shot selection, their response, and how to handle pressure – there’s so much I can learn from them.”
