O’Sullivan Rallies To Beat Wenbo
O’Sullivan is making his first appearance of 2016/17
Ronnie O’Sullivan recovered from 4-1 down to beat Liang Wenbo at the Shanghai Masters on the Rocket’s first appearance of 2016/17.
After Liang claimed a scrappy opener, O’Sullivan got his first frame on the board with a run of 84.
However, Liang continued to feed off mistakes from a rusty O’Sullivan. The Chinese potter opened up a 4-1 lead.
Five-time World Champion O’Sullivan countered with a break of 65 in the sixth frame to keep his chances alive and the pressure began to take its toll on Liang. He missed several opportunities to clinch the match and as the Rocket grew in confidence, he began to punish Liang’s mistakes. Visits of 42 and 56 were enough to seal a 5-4 comeback win.
“Being 4-1 down wasn’t an ideal situation, but I thought that I just had to try my best and see what happens. I won a couple of frames and the match turned around,” said O’Sullivan. “I need to start putting more time in now. If I want to compete with the best players in the world I need to play more. I think I have four or five very good years left in my career.”
Maguire’s third career maximum.
Stephen Maguire made the third maximum break of his career, as he saw off Yi Chen Xu 5-0. The magic moment for the Scot came in the third frame. He also had breaks of 130, 49 and 104 in a dominant display.
Maguire remarked: “It’s always special to make a maximum break I’m very happy. To top that of I played really well.”
World Champion Mark Selby ended the run of talented Chinese teenager Yuan Sijun. He made contributions of 76, 41 and 52 on his way to a comfortable 5-1 win. There was a brief highlight for Sijun as he made a century break of 100 in the fourth frame.
Stuart Carrington continued his impressive run of form to defeat wildcard Niu Zhuang 5-1. Before Maguire’s maximum, he held the highest break of the tournament so far as he knocked in 141. Carrington made further contributions of 76, 135 and 76 on his way to the win.