Ronnie O'Sullivan comes back to win on record-breaking day at the China Open snooker

Playing his first ranking event match of the new professional season - his 35th consecutive term on snooker’s top-flight - O’Sullivan won six consecutive frames from 2-0 down to defeat qualifier Jackson Page, 6-2, on Sunday in Taiyuan.

Page, who turned 25-years-old on Saturday, arrived in the Far East in brilliant form having won all eight of his qualifying round matches held in Leicester over the past several weeks. And it was the Welshman who impressed early on with an effort of 77 in the opening frame before doubling his lead by taking a scrappy second.

But O'Sullivan soon got a foothold in the tie, registering runs of 64 and 70 to level up at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval.

On resumption, 'The Rocket' continued his charge, upping the scoring with efforts of 96 and 93 to move 4-2 up. The 50-year-old then made it five in-a-row, before wrapping up a comeback victory with a break of exactly 100 in frame eight. He has now defeated Page in all four of their meetings on the professional circuit, and with a frame aggregate of 26-7.

A win for number 14 seed O’Sullivan means he collects a minimum of £15,000 - an amount that is guaranteed to be added to his ranking points tally at the end of the competition when the global standings are revised. At last week’s Shanghai Masters, O’Sullivan talked about having ‘two more attempts’ at an unprecedented eighth world title, and how he would retire from the sport if he slipped outside the world’s elite and had to play in qualifiers.

The Englishman has fond memories of the China Open, claiming the inaugural staging in 1999 - the final pro event of the millennium - before successfully defending the crown in 2000. It was the first time in his career that he had retained a ranking event title.

Since then, O’Sullivan has collected a record 41 ranking accolades, although the last of those was in January 2024, and the last to come in China was in 2017.

World number one Trump stunned, record-breaking Murphy

O’Sullivan’s opponent in the second round of the £1.2 million+ China Open will be qualifier Noppon Saengkham who shocked world number one Judd Trump during an eventful second day in the Far East.

Having earlier led 2-0, Saengkham - who had to win two qualifying matches to reach the main draw - strung together three frames, highlighted by a break of 120 in the seventh, to sit one away from an upset.

Newly-minted Shanghai Masters champion Trump kept his hopes alive by ousting the eighth on the final pink, but following a botched safety shot in frame nine, Thai ace Saengkham capitalised with a cool 78 to record his first win over Trump on the circuit since 2018.

The loss will very likely cost Trump his world number one spot later this month. More on that result and story here.

Elsewhere in the afternoon session, world number 11 Xiao Guodong racked up runs of 54, 132, 76, 60 and 60 during a 6-3 win over Anthony McGill.

Reigning back-to-back Wuhan Open champion Xiao will face Shaun Murphy in round two after 'The Magician' conjured up a record-breaking performance in his crushing 6-0 victory against Matthew Selt.

Recent Crucible finalist Murphy didn't allow Selt to score a single point for the opening five-and-a-half frames, putting together an answered points sequence of 607 - eclipsing O'Sullivan's previous record of 556 from the 2014 Masters.

During this sensational scoring streak Murphy also constructed four century breaks in as many frames. For more on these remarkable feats of break-building, visit here.

Following the first two days of action in Taiyuan, all the round one matches in the bottom half have been completed, with four seeds progressing, and four qualifiers.

On Monday, defending champion Neil Robertson shares the baize with Chang Bingyu in one of the blockbuster ties of the round. Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson, and three-time China Open winner Mark Selby are all set to get their pursuits underway.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 China Open snooker ranking event, visit our tournament information centre here.