When does Ronnie O'Sullivan return to snooker action after World Grand Prix victory over Judd Trump?

ByEurosport

Updated 22/01/2024 at 13:16 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan will have a day to celebrate his World Grand Prix 10-7 victory against Judd Trump before he returns to action in qualifying for the World Open in Yushan on Tuesday. Defending champion Trump and world champion Luca Brecel will play their first matches at the final venue, but O'Sullivan will need to negotiate a match against Alfie Burden in Barnsley to book his trip to the event.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan is set to swap a full house at the Morningside Arena in Leicester for the less celebrated surroundings of a leisure centre in Barnsley this week.

World No. 1 O'Sullivan continued his outstanding run of form by lifting the World Grand Prix on Sunday as he came from 4-0 behind to complete a 10-7 victory over Judd Trump in the final in Leicester.

It came a week after he claimed the Masters for an eighth time with a 10-7 win over Ali Carter at Alexandra Palace in a memorable campaign that has seen him win the Shanghai Masters and UK Championship, earning £876,500 in prize money on the table.

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This week O'Sullivan will be aiming to qualify for the World Open in Yushan (March 18-24), situated in the Jiangxi Province of China.

He will play his opening match of the tournament at the Metrodome in Barnsley against world No. 98 Alfie Burden on Tuesday evening.

Matches involving defending champion Judd Trump and world champion Luca Brecel have been held over until the main arena at the tournament, but O'Sullivan must travel to Yorkshire this week to join them.

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At least O'Sullivan will be in elite company with Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Mark Allen, John Higgins and Shaun Murphy among the sport's leading names all hoping to book a trip to Yushan for the last 64 with qualifying staged until Wednesday.

All matches are the best of nine frames.

"I'm going to try to qualify for the China event because I like the China events," said O'Sullivan during the World Grand Prix.

"That will be pretty much be me done. I'll show up for the Players as well because that is quite a decent tournament."

O'Sullivan intends to compete at the Players Championship in Telford next month (February 19-26) along with the top 16 on the one-year list, while a trip to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for a lucrative invitational event in early March (4-6) is also in the diary.

The Tour Championship in Manchester (April 1-7) with the top eight on the one-year list is likely to be his final tournament stop ahead of the World Championship in Sheffield (April 20-May 6).

O'Sullivan will be bidding for a record eighth title at the World Championship.

He has said he thinks Trump is the "favourite" to lift the trophy at the Crucible.

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