Who does Ronnie O'Sullivan face in last 16 of Six Red World Snooker Championship? Judd Trump lands Mark Williams in draw

ByEurosport

Updated 08/03/2023 at 18:09 GMT

World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has been handed an intriguing last-16 clash with old foe Ding Junhui at the Six Red World Championship in Thailand. O'Sullivan and Ding clash at 7am (GMT) on Thursday morning with the winner facing Stuart Bingham or Ricky Walden in the quarter-finals later at 11:30am (GMT). Stream the Six Red World Championship live and on-demand on discovery+.

O'Sullivan makes dreamy total clearance at Six Red World Championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan has been drawn to face old foe Ding Junhui in the last 16 of the Six Red World Championship in Thailand.

The world champion will meet Ding at 7am (GMT) on Thursday LIVE on Eurosport and discovery+ with the winner facing Stuart Bingham or Ricky Walden in the quarter-finals later in the morning at the Thammasat University Convention Centre in Pathum Thani.

O'Sullivan is making his debut at the Bangkok invitational event, but Ding has pedigree in the shorter format having won the title in 2016 with an 8-7 win over Bingham, before losing 8-4 to Kyren Wilson in 2018.

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O'Sullivan coasted through to the knockout round as Group H winner courtesy of victories against Jimmy Robertson (5-3), Stan Moody (5-2) and James Wattana (5-2).

Ding – who whitewashed O'Sullivan 6-0 in their last meeting at the UK Championship quarter-finals in November – enjoyed 5-2 wins against defending champion Stephen Maguire and former women's world champion Mink Nutcharut respectively, before losing 5-0 to Group A winner Zhang Anda.

Former world No. 3 Wattana will return to the elite level in front of his home crowd against Zhang at 4am (GMT) after qualifying as Group H runner-up, but has praised O'Sullivan for travelling to Thailand.

“It is unbelievable, because I haven’t played with the top players for three or four years," said Wattana on WST. "This is the big arena and big event for Thai people. Even though it isn’t ranking, we feel this is the best event so far for the Thai people.

“You never get fed up or bored of lifting any trophy in front of your home crowd. It is anybody’s dream. Ronnie is here and he is very good for the tournament.

"We need somebody like him. Win or lose, we are good friends. He has done so much for the game and I have done a little bit in the far east.”

Group D winner Judd Trump and Group F runner-up Mark Williams will meet in a repeat of their Masters final in January which Trump won 10-8 having been 8-7 behind at London's Alexandra Palace.

All matches in the last 16 will be contested over the best of 11 frames, with the semi-finals on Friday the best of 13 frames, before a best-of-15 frame final on Saturday for a first prize worth 4,200,000 Thai baht (£101,000).