Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Jimmy Robertson 5-3 to make a winning start to his maiden Six Reds World Championship campaign in Thailand.
The Rocket has never previously appeared in this invitational round-robin event, which was first held back in 2008 but not since 2019, and is hoping to find some form in Pathum Thani after a largely disappointing campaign.
O'Sullivan finds himself in Group H alongside Jimmy Robertson, James Wattana and Stan Moody and this commanding performance puts him in a commanding position to finish in the top two and the place in the last 16.
The different format was unsurprisingly not bother to O'Sullivan during the early exchanges and a break of 64 in the second frame helped him open up a commanding 4-0 lead in the race to five before his opponent finally slowed him down.
New format, same Ronnie 🤤@WeAreWST | #SixRedWorldChampionship pic.twitter.com/GA6UEb31oX
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 7, 2023
Even in defeat, frames could prove crucial if players finish level on points at the end of the group stage so Robertson will have been relieved to pick up three of them before O'Sullivan finally picked up his point-winning fifth.
O'Sullivan will return to action on Wednesday for his final two group games against Wattana and Moody. The action is being screened on Eurosport.
Blink and you'll miss it 👀
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 7, 2023
Ronnie O'Sullivan is up 2-0 in his Six Reds World Championship debut!
Currently live on Eurosport and @discoveryplus 📺 pic.twitter.com/sMofLVy95p
Judd Trump put himself on the brink of qualification after beating Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn 5-4, which came after Monday’s 5-0 whitewash of Ricky Walden.
Trump had trailed 4-1 to the Thai but rallied to take victory in a final-set decider.
Walden recovered from that defeat to keep his hopes of qualification alive by beating Hai Long Ma 5-1.
Two-time runner-up Stuart Bingham is safely into the last 16 with a 5-2 win over Jordan Brown.
He told World Snooker Tour: “The short format, anyone can pot five reds, five blacks and they are 40 points up. It is tough, you have to be on your game and play sensibly. You don’t need the big breaks, you need to win the frames.”
Mark Williams was beaten 5-2 by Joe Perry in his opening match to leave him with it all to do on Wednesday.
Zhang Anda (1st) and Ding Junhui (2nd) progress
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (1st) and Tom Ford (2nd) currently in qualification spots
Hossein Vafaei (1st) and John Higgins (2nd) progress
Judd Trump (1st) and Ricky Walden (2nd) currently in qualification spots
Chris Wakelin (1st) and Dechawat Poomjaeng (2nd) currently in qualification spots
Joe Perry (1st) and Andres Petrov (2nd) currently in qualification spots
Stuart Bingham (1st) and Noppon Saengkham (2nd) currently in qualification spots
James Wattana (1st) and Ronnie O'Sullivan (2nd) currently in qualification spots