Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Judd Trump 6-3 at the Players Championship

Trump has largely got the better of their recent matches – winning five out of the last six meetings – but he couldn’t keep pace with his older rival who made a blistering start and stayed in top gear throughout.

O’Sullivan immediately looked in the mood when putting together a typically silky break of 90 in the opening frame, though when Trump hit straight back, it seemed the contest would go the distance.

As it was, O’Sullivan produced a standard of snooker that only he has been able to consistently reach in the history of the game, punishing Trump when he couldn’t put the third frame to bed despite building a 52-point lead – a clearance of 83 every inch vintage O’Sullivan.

2-1 soon became 3-1 as O’Sullivan floated around the table with all the swagger of old, picking and nudging his way to what looked certain to be his first century of the evening, only for a missed red on 99 to draw groans from the packed crowd.

The mid-session interval came at a good time for Trump, but even though a break of 69 reduced his deficit to a single frame, he just couldn’t land a telling blow on O’Sullivan whose reply of 62 allowed him to claim the sixth frame and move two clear once more.

O’Sullivan finally had reason to grimace when failing to punish another Trump mistake in the following frame, though any hopes of a rousing comeback failed to materialise.

Instead, O’Sullivan added the finishes touches to his masterclass, a sublime break of 127 – surprisingly the only century of the night – putting him within touching distance of victory, one that was confirmed when he added a fluent run of 52 moments later.

A warm hand shake and a few words were offered from Trump in defeat, but O’Sullivan had stolen the show on a memorable night that reminded fans that he remains king of the snooker castle.

O’Sullivan told ITV: "I’m just pleased to get through. This is a good tournament to play in and you don’t want to be out in the first round of these tournaments.

"I’m happy to be in the event and I’ve got a nice and easy match with Neil Robertson in the next round now!

"There were still a few mistakes in there. I suppose that just happens when you get older, you have lapses in concentration that don’t happen when you are younger.

"I try to make up for it with other areas of my game and that kind of offsets those lapses that tend to happen.

"It was a good atmosphere and a packed audience. They came out expecting some good stuff so we tried to put on a good match for them."

Hawkins takes revenge on Zhao

Barry Hawkins' excellent season continued when he produced an accomplished display to beat Zhao Xintong 6-3.

Hawkins was no match for Zhao when they met in the semi-finals of the UK Championship back in December, the Chinese star lifting the trophy at a canter a day later, but it was the 42-year-old who held sway on this occasion, running out a deserved winner.

Zhao certainly had his chances and will wonder what might have been having looked sure to level the scores at 4-4 when building a handy lead in the eighth frame, only to misjudge an adventurous plant and leave the door open for Hawkins to move in on victory.

In truth, that was the story of the match as Hawkins won the crucial moments when the opportunities came his way, while Zhao was made to pay for some sloppy errors, firstly when missing a cut-back red on 34 in a fourth frame he went on to lose, and again in frame six when he twice missed to middle, before running out of rope in that ultimately pivotal eighth frame.

That Zhao only managed two breaks of over fifty all day tells the story of just how out of sorts he was, and having raced out of the blocks with breaks of 63, 91 and 94, Hawkins will have been pleased to ruthlessly close out the match with further contributions of 71 and 50.

Hawkins told World Snooker Tour: "I knew it was going to be a really tough game. He is the man in form and must be super confident.

"He already beat me quite convincingly at the UK Championship in the semi-finals, so it was nice to play well and get a win over him.

"He is a top player now. We have all known about him for a while, but he has now proven what he is capable of. He is going to be at the top of the game for a long time now as he will be dedicated.

"I feel like I’ve been in good form over the last couple of seasons. To get to the final of the Masters was huge. I took a bit of confidence from that.

"If I can keep playing well and putting myself in these positions, then hopefully one day the door will open."

Hawkins will face Yan Bingtao in the last eight after he held off a brave comeback from Dave Gilbert to prevail 6-4.

Yan was in complete control when reeling off three centuries in six frames to lead 5-1, only for Gilbert to claw his way back into the match and close to 5-4.

However, Yan, a beaten finalist in this event in 2020, held his nerve and put together a match-winning run of 59 in 10th frame to continue his strong recent form.

There was also a big win for Ricky Walden whose resurgence continued when he beat close friend Mark Allen 6-2.