Ronnie O’Sullivan marked his first appearance for the 2026/27 snooker season with a first-round victory at the 2026 Shanghai Masters in China on Monday.
The five-time Shanghai Masters champion comfortably saw off the challenge of Chinese wildcard Liu Linhao as the week’s action got under way at the Luwan Gymnasium.
O’Sullivan wasn’t at his best but compiled breaks of 75, 73, 71, and 55 to see off the challenge of the amateur and reach the last 16.
Next up for the Rocket, who last won the event in 2023, will be reigning champion Kyren Wilson – one of the top eight seeds who enjoyed byes through to the second round.
Five other matches from the first round took place on the opening day of the prestigious invitational.
There were a couple of deciding-frame thrillers, with Zhou Yuelong and Xiao Guodong recording respective triumphs over Mark Selby and Xu Jiarui.
Selby was the only member from the top 16 who failed to negotiate his opening test, falling in a high-scoring affair against Zhou.
The pair traded four century breaks and made a plethora of other big breaks, but Zhou’s 107 in the 11th and final frame ultimately proved to be the difference.
Xiao ended his contest in similar fashion, albeit the two-time Wuhan Open champion will probably feel lucky to still be in the event.
The 37 year-old initially struggled against amateur wildcard Xu Jiarui and at one point found himself 5-2 adrift.
But he fought his way back to one behind before the morning match was pulled off for running long, with Xiao returning much later to make breaks of 55 and 121 in completing the comeback.
It was much more impressive for Ding Junhui, who delighted his legion of home fans with a dominant display against Yao Dongcheng.
The two-time Shanghai Masters champion – when it was formerly held as a ranking event – tallied four century breaks to set up a mouthwatering clash with Zhao Xintong in the next round.
Elsewhere, Barry Hawkins scored a brace of 121 breaks in a tight 6-4 victory over Lei Peifan.
Chris Wakelin, meanwhile, enjoyed the most comfortable outing by thumping Tang Hewen with a 6-0 whitewash scoreline.
The remaining round-of-24 fixtures take place early on Tuesday with Si Jiahui in action against Pang Junxu and Jack Lisowski – a replacement for Mark Allen – taking on Zhang Anda.
Later in the day, some of the top eight seeds will begin to enter the fray including Wilson and world number one Judd Trump, who faces Hawkins.
Neil Robertson and Mark Williams will also be in action on the second day against Xiao and Wakelin respectively.
Featured photo credit: WST
