Neil Robertson fired in four centuries to blow China’s Fan Zhengyi away 6-0 at the International Championship in Nanjing.
The Australian is in need of a strong showing this week, which marks the final cut off for UK Championship qualification. With only 16 players automatically securing a place in the final stages, he arrived in Nanjing perilously positioned in 16th in the provisional Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings.
Today’s result leaves the Thunder from Down Under needing just one more victory to move ahead of Jak Jones in 15th and strengthen his hand. However, he now faces a crunch showdown with Barry Hawkins, who is also vying to push his way into the top 16. Hawkins beat Joe Perry 6-2 in his last 64 tie.
A supreme display today saw Robertson demolish former European Masters champion Fan in just over an hour and 40 minutes. He hammered home breaks of 135, 102, 135 and 109 along the way.
Robertson said: “I’m very pleased because Fan is a really dangerous player. He has beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of a ranking event before. The key was to try and limit his chances to tough ones where he might be leaving me in. That happened a couple of times and I potted some good long balls. I scored really heavily and that is going to be the key this week.
“It was a good to win. There are a lot of ranking points up for grabs. The UK Championship is coming so I want to get a good run going. Everyone is building up towards the first Triple Crown event of the season. This is the one where the real world exposure is on you.”
Having lost twice to him already this season, seven-time World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan secured his first ever win over China’s He Guoqiang, prevailing 6-2.
The Rocket succumbed to losses at the Championship League and the English Open at the hands of the talented Chinese 24-year-old, who was Rookie of the Year last season.
O’Sullivan crafted breaks of 73, 87, 83, 70, 58, 53 and 72 during today’s win. He now plays Pang Junxu in the last 32.
O’Sullivan said: “There are so many good Chinese players, who are technically very good and play amazing games. That was the third time I’ve played this guy and he beat me the first two times. For me, it was a big match and I had to just block out that I’d lost the previous two and try to play my game.”
China’s top star Ding Junhui thrilled his home fans with a 6-1 win over Martin O’Donnell. That sets up an intriguing meeting with Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei.
World Champion Kyren Wilson was a 6-3 winner over Liu Hongyu, while world number one Judd Trump whitewashed Sanderson Lam 6-0. They now face Wu Yize and Joe O’Connor respectively.
World number three Mark Allen scored a 6-2 win over Aaron Hill to progress. That books him a clash with recent Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong.