Wuhan Open 2023: Ronnie O'Sullivan seals quarter-final place after cruising past Yuan Sijun with 5-1 win

ByJames Hilsum

Updated 12/10/2023 at 17:10 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan showed glimpses of his top form with a 5-1 win over Yuan Sijun to seal a quarter-final place, where he will play either Lyu Haotian or Zhang Anda. The world No. 1 never really looked like veering off course in a dominant display. Yuan's best moment came in the second frame, when he claimed a break of 112, but he was ultimately eliminated.

Ronnie O’Sullivan booked his place in the Wuhan Open quarter-finals with a comprehensive 5-1 win over Yuan SiJun.

O'Sullivan wrapped up a fairly tepid first frame as Yuan left an open red, which the Rocket potted along with three more with colours to move onto a break of 27.

A brief return to the table for the Chinese player yielded a red and green combination, but the damage had already been done.

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Yuan responded in emphatic style though, with a break of 112, and surpassed a 70th career century after potting the yellow with the pack opening up beautifully for him.

However, it was a case of anything you can do I can do better, as O'Sullivan built up a breathtaking clearance of 130 with some sublime potting.

He claimed a century with a blue off the final red, as the frame took a decisive turn in his favour after leaving Yuan requiring snookers.

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Yuan left a long red for O'Sullivan in the next frame, which he duly dispatched before adding a green and taking one more red with a colour to seal the fourth frame and move 3-1 ahead.

He would go onto to clear up the table, including a superb pot of the pink, before missing the black ahead of the mid-session interval.

The world No. 1 moved to within one frame of victory with a break of 82, but just missed out on another century after a yellow moved away from the pocket with a long red.

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O'Sullivan's ability to spread the reds in the positions he wanted proved decisive and elimination was staring Yuan square in the face.

Yuan made things a little interesting in what turned out to be the sixth and final frame, as O'Sullivan lost his angle on the pink, but he subsequently missed this after two attempts to set up nicely for the Rocket in the D.

The seven-time world champion would finish with a flourish to take a brilliant black into the left middle pocket, and a quarter-final spot was secured.

He will now face Lyu Haotian who was a 5-2 winner over Zhang Anda on the back of breaks of 103, 87, 100 and 88.

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