Ronnie O’Sullivan made a mockery of his recent period of inactivity by reeling off three centuries in five frames as he completed a 10-4 victory against Ali Carter in the first round ofthe World Snooker Championshipin Sheffield.
The seven-time champion, who has not played on the professional tour since he crashed out of the Championship League in January, looked close to his best as he swiftly set up a last-16 clash against Pang Junxu, but revealed he was still ravaged by self-doubt despite completing a stunning demolition job.
O’Sullivan said he had been plagued by thoughts that he had made the wrong decision since he committed to taking his place in the tournament in the middle of last week. “I thought: ‘What am I doing, coming here and exposing myself, imploding out there, having a meltdown?’ All that went through my head,” the 49-year-old said.
“I was a bit scared about playing. It is a daunting venue to play at anyway, but it’s just about getting on the bikeagain and playing. I’m really happy that I’ve done it, even if I’d lost it didn’t matter – I’ve made the breakthrough now.”
Carter had done well to pull within one by the end of the opening session on Tuesday but did not score a point in the first two frames upon the resumption as O’Sullivan dispatched breaks of 59 and 117 to extend his lead to 7-4. Carter blew it again in the 12th frame, running out of position on 28, and, clearly in no mood to hang around, O’Sullivan produced a clearance of 74 followed by his second century ofthe day to head into the interval one frame from victory.
It was a far cry from a forgettable opening session in which O’Sullivan had benefited from a series of errors by Carter to carve out his relatively rusty first-day lead. Confirmation of O’Sullivan’s progress duly arrived in the fifth frame of the day as a 131 total clearance wrapped up an ultimately emphatic victory over his former foe.
After his win O’Sullivan surged to second-favourite for the title with the bookmakers, but he continued to talk down his chances, insisting: “My expectation levels were to maybe geta few frames and see where I go from there. I feel like I’ve had a victory by just winning a match, and it is all part of the rebuilding process.”
Pang became the sixth and final Chinese player to reach the last 16 after completing a 10-7 win against his compatriot Zhang Anda, the 12th seed. The 25-year-old was beaten 10-7 by O’Sullivan on his Crucible debut two years ago but since then he has improved and reached his second ranking semi-final at the Northern Ireland Open in October.
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“The pressure was huge at the start and I didn’t perform well in the first session,” Pang said. “But after falling behind, I relaxed and managed to play better. I think I have a chance to win. You learn everything from playing [against top players]. Their shot selection, their response, and how to handle pressure – there’s so much I can learn from them.”
