On the first day of the new Xi'an Grand Prix, Ronnie O'Sullivan thrilled local fans with a 5-0 whitewash of Wang Yuchen to reach the last 64.
This is the first tournament staged in the historic city of Xi'an in China's Shaanxi Province and seven-time World Champion O'Sullivan is clearly a fan of the location. He said: "I have spent a couple of days here in Xi’an before. It has a beautiful atmosphere, you feel as if you are on a film set. It’s definitely one of my favourite cities. I come to China for the food, the culture and the people, if I do well at snooker that’s a bonus. It was a brilliant crowd and atmosphere today, this is probably one of the best tournaments of the season now."
O'Sullivan, age 48, was well short of his best today, but breaks of 72 and 52 helped him to a comfortable victory as he set up a second round meeting with Bulcsu Revesz on Tuesday. Asked about his performance, he said: "My game has been terrible for two years. I am looking for a longer term plan to play the way I want to, I just have to keep showing up and trying my best."
World Champion Kyren Wilson scored his first win in a knockout match this season as he beat Haris Tahir 5-2. Wilson suffered a 6-0 reverse against Zhou Yuelong in the Shanghai Masters last month but got back on track today and will now meet He Guoqiang in the last 64. Mark Selby fired breaks of 136 and 11 as he beat Wang Xinbo 5-3.
World number one Mark Allen opened with a 5-2 victory over Liu Hongyu, firing breaks of 66, 58, 111 and 70. "I was fortunate to be 2-0 up, Liu struggled early in the match," admitted Northern Ireland's Allen. "Then he showed what he can do when he came from 4-0 to 4-2 and I had to make a good break in the end to win 5-2.
"This is a good time for me because I like a run of tournaments without gaps in between. We have this one, then Saudi Arabia, then a few in the UK and then another one in China so it's a busy spell and a chance to gain momentum and hopefully pick up a few titles.
"I want to stay as world number one as long as possible. I know Judd Trump is not far behind me and if he wins titles then there won't be much I can do. But I'm here to win the tournament too. I know I have a lot of points to defend from two years ago so I need to keep winning. Saudi will be huge in terms of the number one ranking, because the money there is so big. But it's nice to be the one they are all chasing."
Gong Chenzhi, a 17-year-old tour rookie from China, sprung an upset win as he beat world number 13 Tom Ford 5-1.