Ronnie O’Sullivan has tipped 16-year-old talent Zhou Jinhao for an ‘exciting future in the game’ after beating the youngster 6-1 at the Shanghai Masters.
The teenage amateur who is playing as a wildcard caused a big upset in his opening game, beating world number 12 Zhang Anda to set up his clash with the Rocket.
Unsurprisingly, the seven-time world champion had too much for the youngster, making breaks of 85, 78, 85, 79 and 60 in the comfortable victory.
The defending champion did like what he saw from his young foe, though, with Zhou enjoying the buzz of claiming the opening frame and taking the lead against the best player to ever pick up a cue.
O’Sullivan has now won 20 straight matches in the Shanghai Masters, looking to win the event for a fifth straight time, but had a word for his beaten opponent after making it into the quarter-finals.
‘Love being back here in Shanghai!’ O’Sullivan posted on X. ‘Well played to Zhou, he’s a great young talent who has an exciting future ahead of him.’
He told WST of the difficulty of facing him on the big stage: ‘It is never easy. It was a big crowd and I don’t think I could have played any better than he did at his stage of his career.
‘It is just about experience. Play as many matches as you can in that environment and you will get much better.’
The world number five now has Wednesday off and will return in the quarter-finals on Thursday against either Ding Junhui after a dramatic 6-5 win over Ali Carter.
Ding was in command at 5-3 before break of 107 and 69 from the Captain forced a decider, but it was a superb break of 95 from the local hero that set up the blockbuster clash with O’Sullivan.
The other two players who have booked their spots in the last eight are Judd Trump and Si Jiahui, who will meet each other after fine wins earlier on Tuesday.
Trump beat Mark Williams 6-2, with breaks of 112, 112, 72, 67 and 52, looking good in his first match since the World Championship.
Si had already downed Tom Ford in his opening match and then beat Luca Brecel 6-2, securing an attractive clash with the former world champion as a result.
The final second round matches are played on Wednesday as Mark Allen meets Pang Junxu, Mark Selby plays Cao Jin, Shaun Murphy takes on John Higgins and Kyren Wilson faces Zhou Yuelong.
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