Snooker lord: Ronnie O’Sullivan officially send a word of encouragement to a 16 years old boy” despite brushing him aside in the Shanghai master round of 16…..
In his first match, the adolescent amateur who is competing as a wildcard upset world number 12 Zhang Anda, setting up a matchup with the Rocket. It should come as no surprise that the seven-time world champion was too strong for the youthful player, winning easily with breaks of 85, 78, 85, 79, and 60. Despite Zhou’s delight at seizing the first set and leading the greatest player to ever pick up a cue, the defending champion was impressed by what he saw in his youthful opponent.
In an attempt to win the Shanghai Masters for a record fifth time, O’Sullivan has now won 20 straight games. However, after defeating his opponent and advancing to the quarterfinals, he had a message for him.
I adore returning to Shanghai! O’Sullivan made a post on X. “Well done, Zhou. He’s a fantastic young talent with a bright future ahead of him.” It’s never easy to take on someone on the big stage, he admitted to WST.
I don’t think I could have performed much better than he did for the size of the audience and at this point in his career. It all comes down to experience. You will improve greatly if you play as many games as you can in that setting.
The world number five now has Wednesday off and will return in the quarter-finals on Thursday against either Ding Junhui after a dramatic 6-5 win over Ali Carter.
Ding was in command at 5-3 before break of 107 and 69 from the Captain forced a decider, but it was a superb break of 95 from the local hero that set up the blockbuster clash with O’Sullivan.
The other two players who have booked their spots in the last eight are Judd Trump and Si Jiahui, who will meet each other after fine wins earlier on Tuesday.
Si had already downed Tom Ford in his opening match and then beat Luca Brecel 6-2, securing an attractive clash with the former world champion as a result.
The final second round matches are played on Wednesday as Mark Allen meets Pang Junxu, Mark Selby plays Cao Jin, Shaun Murphy takes on John Higgins and Kyren Wilson faces Zhou Yuelong.
