Ronnie O’Sullivan scored a 5-1 win over Ken Doherty on day one of the inaugural Wuhan Open, to prevent himself falling from the summit of the world rankings.
Defeat for the Rocket would have seen World Champion Luca Brecel become world number one for the first time. O’Sullivan will stay on top from now, but Mark Allen could still dislodge him this week if he were to win the event.
The Wuhan Open marks a significant return to ranking event action in Asia, after four years off the calendar. A raucous crowd welcomed two snooker superstars to the show tables this evening, with 39-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan competing in tandem with Chinese number one Ding Junhui’s game against Ashley Hugill.
It was 1997 Crucible king Doherty who took an early lead, but a break of 88 saw O’Sullivan restore parity and he then took a tight third to move 2-1 in front.
From there, the seven-time World Champion blitzed to the line. He crafted further breaks of 89 and 82 on his way to making it five on the bounce and ran out a comfortable victor.
Afterwards he admitted he enjoyed sharing the stage with his old practice partner Doherty and playing on the table next to Asian legend Ding, who progressed with a 5-3 defeat of Ashley Hugill.
“I played a lot with Ken when I was a kid, well I was a kid and he was an adult. I learned a lot from him,” said the now 47-year-old O’Sullivan.
“I call Ding the Godfather of snooker in China. He put snooker on the map here. He came along at an early age and was winning tournaments. He is a great player and has been a constant of the game for 20-years, so Ding is a legend in China. He is a credit to himself, his family and everyone in China. To share the venue with Ding was nice. He got an amazing cheer which was nice to see.”
Mark Allen remains in the hunt to become world number one, but he had to survive a scare against Mark Joyce, coming from 4-3 down to secure a 5-4 win.
Allen was Player of the Year last season, winning the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and the World Grand Prix. However, he has openly admitted to struggling for confidence this term. The world number three edged over the line by taking a 26-minute decider, but knows he needs to improve.
Allen said: “I’m very pleased to be through, but that was awful. It’s been a very long time since I’ve played that badly. Mentally I was pretty good and that was what got me through, because I had no form.
“I feel that I’ve been letting myself go in terms of the mental side. I worked really hard on that in the last week or so preparing for this tournament. I think that really helped me today. I wasn’t in a good place with my game, but mentally I was always prepared for the next shot.”
Jack Lisowski took the eighth frame on the black to avoid a decider against Scott Donaldson and come through with a 5-3 victory, while Ali Carter defeated Women’s British Open champion Bai Yulu 5-2.
