Ronnie O'Sullivan falls over the line to beat Ben Mertens in English Open first round despite being below-par

ByAlex Livie

Updated 13/12/2022 at 09:50 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan made a less-than-ideal start to the English Open with victory over Ben Mertens in Essex. It was a daunting task for the 18-year-old, but having fallen to a three-frame deficit, he fought back to send the match to a decider. O'Sullivan, who won the event back in 2017, drew on his experience to progress. Stream the English Open action live and on-demand on discovery+.

Ronnie O’Sullivan was made to dig in to claim a 4-3 victory over Ben Mertens to book his place in the second round of the English Open.

The only possible concern was fear of the unknown for O’Sullivan, having never played Mertens before, and he was given a serious test before setting up a clash with Dechawat Poomjaeng in round two.

There have been some mixed performances from O’Sullivan in the current season, despite having two titles to his name at the Champion of Champions and Hong Kong Masters, and it was a similar scenario as he got over the line despite not being at his best in Essex on Monday.

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Mertens is at the fledgling stage of his career. O’Sullivan had won two of his seven world titles before the 18-year-old was born in 2004, and he would have learned plenty from his first match against the greatest to play the game.

There were question marks about how O’Sullivan would react to the cold, with the Brentwood Centre hit by heating issues, and Jimmy White was concerned for his friend.

O’Sullivan seemed to dispel any fears as he opened his account with a fine red and made 51, but a casual positional shot saw him break down. It summed up his evening.

Mertens had a chance to counter and scooped up the reds in impressive fashion, knocked in a tough black, but missed a yellow with the rest and O’Sullivan pounced to take the lead.

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Mertens was given a lesson about not leaving chances to the stars of the game as a sloppy safety let O’Sullivan in, and he raced through a break of 81 to double his advantage.

The third frame was a carbon copy of the second, as Mertens made an error - on this occasion a forced one by a superb safety from O’Sullivan - and the world No. 1 picked off a break of 51. But, as in the first, he ran out of position and a casual attempt at a double handed a chance to Mertens.

The teenage Belgian picked off the colours and a tough black to do the hard work. But he left himself on the cushion from brown to blue and missed the pot to left middle, handing the frame on a plate to O'Sullivan.

Mertens knocked in a fine red to start the fourth, but did not land on a colour and played a poor safety. It looked like being his final act, but O'Sullivan missed a red to right middle and the youngster knocked in a 65 to avert the whitewash.

A weight looked to come off Mertens’ shoulders when he wrapped up the frame, with his body language more positive.

'The sky is the limit for him' - O'Sullivan impressed by rising star Mertens

The fifth frame was O’Sullivan’s current season in a microcosm: good pots, excellent safety, some misfortune and sloppy play.

O’Sullivan had a couple of shots at match ball, missed them both and lost a safety battle on the colours as Mertens took the frame.

The world No. 1 had a chance in the sixth, but missed it and left Mertens in. The youngster stepped to the table riding a wave of confidence and knocked in a 73 to force a deciding frame.

O’Sullivan got in first in the decider, but he ran out of position on 42 and played an outrageous plant from long distance that did not drop and handed his opponent a chance.

Mertens made only 12, but played a good safety and O’Sullivan threw his cue at an audacious red - which looked a little desperate - and it did not drop.

O’Sullivan got lucky as the chance he handed to Mertens was tough and the red to left middle did not go in.

Mertens went back to his chair with his head low, as he left O’Sullivan a starter and he mopped them to fall over the line.

'Wonderful, brilliant shot!' - O'Sullivan races into the lead in clash with Mertens

Mark Allen suffered travel disruption on his way to Brentwood, but he shrugged off the issues to beat Mitchell Mann 4-1.

It was not vintage Allen, arguably the form player of the season so far, as his highest break was 63 - but he was able to get the better of the tight exchanges to advance. Allen will meet Dylan Emery in round two.

Stuart Bingham’s hold on a place in the top 16 in the world is hanging in the balance following his 4-1 loss to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Thapchaiya returned to form with a run to the semi-finals of the Scottish Open, and he made one century in claiming the win and a meeting with Tian Pengfei.

Aside from the walkovers for Elliott Slessor and Fraser Patrick, Ricky Walden was the first player to advance to round three after easing past Liam Highfield 4-0.

Kyren Wilson breezed through to the second round with a 4-0 victory over Reanne Evans to set up a meeting with Ben Woollaston.

Wilson wasn't at his best but didn't need to be as he produced three breaks of over 50 to see off his opponent.

Mark Williams needed seven frames to beat fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens to advance in the tournament.

It looked like it was going to be a comfortable night for Williams as he raced into a 3-1 lead, but Stevens fought back and brought the game to a decider at 3-3. Eventually, however, Williams prevailed.

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