Ronnie O’Sullivan made a winning to return to action on Sunday, progressing to the second round of the International Championship with a 6-3 win over women’s world number one Mink Nutcharut in Nanjing.
O’Sullivan, who has skipped a host of tournaments in recent weeks, lost the opening frame to Thailand’s Nutcharut after the match was delayed for overcrowding at the 1865 Innovation Hall.
But the seven-time world champion responded with a 124 break in the next before further scores of 89 and 61 helped him into a 4-1 lead.
Nutcharut took the next two frames to close the gap but O’Sullivan responded with breaks of 69 and 132 to seal the win.
Men’s world champion Kyren Wilson, who won the Northern Ireland Open last week, thrashed Mitchell Mann 6-0 in the opening round and Ali Carter beat China’s Wei Cai 6-1.
Mark Selby reeled off the last four frames in succession, with the aid of two centuries, to beat Jamie Clarke 6-4, while fellow four-time world champion John Higgins also recovered from 4-2 down to beat Ben Woollaston by the same score.
China’s world number nine Ding Junhui defeated Leanne Evans 6-0, while Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, China’s Si Jiahui, David Grace and Iran’s Hossein Vafaei all progressed.
Chris Wakelin whitewashed fellow Englishman Zak Surety 6-0 in their second-round match as Ryan Day, Lyu Haotian, Xu Si, Matthew Stevens and Jiang Jun also reached round three.
