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.
Ronnie doing O'Sullivan things 👌#InternationalChampionship @ronnieo147 pic.twitter.com/RNJs4381y8
— WST (@WeAreWST) November 3, 2024
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.
