Ronnie O'Sullivan and Zhao Xintong record speedy whitewash wins to begin Saudi Masters campaigns

One of the busiest and most special days on the professional snooker calendar, the tournament's top 16 seeds all started their title campaigns on Tuesday in the £2.3 million world ranking event.

During the afternoon session in the Middle East, there were mixed fortunes for the sport's biggest stars with reigning champion and world number one Judd Trump suffering a shock exit at the hands of world number 68 Oli Lines.

O'Sullivan - who got the nod to play on the main TV table in the evening session - scored a surprisingly one-sided victory over the in-form Joe O'Connor.

A ranking event finalist twice this year already, O'Connor looked set to win the opening frame of the match but rattled the black as he tried to obtain position on the yellow. O'Sullivan cleared the balls he needed to win the frame before compiling a break of 116 - his first century of the new season - to go 2-0 up.

The advantage stretched to three, and a run of 89 in the fourth put O'Sullivan 4-0 up heading into the mid-session interval. On resumption, O'Sullivan registered efforts of 53 and 90 within the same frame to advance in very comfortable fashion.

It is potentially a very big season for the 49-year-old, who despite currently being ranked fifth in the world, is provisionally outside of the world's top 16 in the 'Race to the Crucible' rankings list.

The record 41-time ranking event champion did not win a title, or appear in a final last season, but with so much prize money on offer in Saudi this week, O'Sullivan could help alleviate any such ranking points concerns with a deep run here. Winning his opening tie means he will at least add £30,000 to his points tally.

O'Sullivan will meet Chang Bingyu on Wednesday after the Chinese youngster recorded the biggest win of his professional career, so far, by ousting former world number one Mark Allen, 5-4.

A talent that O'Sullivan was very complimentary about several years ago, Chang is through to the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time.

On table number two, reigning World Champion Zhao completed his clean sweep victory over Steven Hallworth even quicker.

Playing in this tournament for the first time, the history-maker from China was relentless as he rattled in runs of 92, 132, 97 and 94 in building a 4-0 lead at the break, having allowed his opponent to score just 16 points in total.

Hallworth was one of four players who navigated all the opening four rounds to get into the last 32 where the top 16 seeds entered the fray. He scored first in frame five, but Zhao later came to the table to construct a 106 for a statement victory.

For his third competition in-a-row, Zhao will meet Chris Wakelin, in the last 16 on Wednesday. Wakelin struck breaks of 62, 84, 102 and 62 as he ended the run of Farakh Ajaib with a 5-1 win.

Zhao defeated Wakelin in the quarter-finals at the Crucible, and in round two of the Shanghai Masters.

Please visit our 2025 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters tournament information centre here for the draw, results and other details on the event.