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Ronnie O'Sullivan gains revenge over He Guoqiang at International Championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan is hoping to land the International Championship for the first time
Ronnie O'Sullivan is hoping to land the International Championship for the first time

Ronnie O'Sullivan eased into round three of the International Championship with a 6-2 victory over home favourite He Guoqiang in Nanjing.

The seven-time world champion recovered from losing the opening frame to take control of the contest with breaks of 73, 87, 83 and 70.

Chinese player He edged a tight sixth frame to reduce his deficit before two further half-century breaks from world number five O’Sullivan set up a last-32 meeting with Pang Junxu.

"I get very good support wherever I go all over the world," O’Sullivan, who is playing a tournament for the first time since losing to He at the English Open in September, told the World Snooker Tour following his win.

"I think that’s just because I’ve been playing the game for so long now. I’ve won a lot of big titles, I think that’s what people like: to win the big tournaments, holding all the records.

"As well as my style of play, I’ve managed to entertain the fans.

"If you asked 100 snooker fans who they’d want to watch, probably the majority of them would say me because I kind of tick every box there is to tick as a sportsman."

World champion Kyren Wilson sealed a 6-3 win over Liu Hongyu with a break of 143, while world number one Judd Trump also ended with a century in his 6-0 defeat of Sanderson Lam.

Stuart Bingham, the 2015 world champion, was whitewashed 6-0 by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Mark Williams awaits the Thai player following his walkover victory against Mark Davis.

Shaun Murphy also advanced with a walkover win, while defending champion Zhang Anda overcame David Grace 6-3.

Later on Monday, Neil Robertson fired in four centuries in an impressive 6-0 drubbing of Fan Zhengyi.

"I'm very pleased because Fan is a really dangerous player," said the Australian, who takes on Barry Hawkins in the next round.

"He has beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of a ranking event before.

"I scored really heavily and that is going to be the key this week."

Ding Junhui secured a 6-1 success over Martin O’Donnell, while two-time world finalist Ali Carter won the final two frames to edge past Scotland’s Ross Muir 6-5.

Antrim's Mark Allen also progressed, beating Cork's Aaron Hill 6-2 after his opponent began with a break of 131.

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