Rocket Heading For Chengdu

Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his place in the final stages of the International Championship by beating James Cahill 6-3 in the qualifying round in Barnsley.

The Rocket will head to Chengdu in the west of China next month to chase the £125,000 top prize in the season’s fourth world ranking event.

Five-time World Champion O’Sullivan took the first three frames despite a top break of just 45, before Cahill pulled one back with a run of 93. O’Sullivan’s 79 – his highest break of the match – made it 4-1 but Cahill battled hard and took the next two frames to close to 4-3.

A run of 60 gave O’Sullivan the eighth frame and he closed out victory in the next thanks to breaks of 49 and 35.

Hong Kong’s Marco Fu eased to a 6-0 win over Shane Castle with a top break of 64 while Stephen Maguire top scored with 95 in a 6-4 defeat of Liu Chuang.

In-form Mark Allen was made to work hard by amateur Nico Elton, who led 2-0 and 3-2 before Allen hit back to win four of the last five frames with a top break of 109 for a 6-4 victory.

Shaun Murphy beat Allan Taylor 6-4 with a top run of 78 while Xiao Guodong saw off Alexander Ursenbacher 6-1 with a best break of 78.