Ronnie O'Sullivan starts new snooker season with routine victory at Shanghai Masters

The start of his 35th consecutive campaign on snooker’s top-flight, O’Sullivan dispatched Chinese amateur wildcard Liu Linhao, 6-1, at the Luwan Gymnasium to set up a tasty last 16 showdown with reigning champion Kyren Wilson on Tuesday (12:30BST).

As the world number 14 - therefore not one of the top eight seeds for this event who all go straight through to round two - O’Sullivan had to navigate the preliminary round in Shanghai, and took the first frame before 18-year-old Liu showed his class with a break of 88 to level up at 1-1.

However, seven-time world champion O’Sullivan strung together the next five frames - with runs of 73, 71, 75 and 55 - to comfortably progress in the £825,000, 24-player invitational.

‘The Rocket’ had not played on the World Snooker Tour since his second round deciding frame exit to John Higgins at the 2026 World Championship, although since then he won the World Seniors Championship at the Crucible, the inaugural Global Snooker 900 crown, and made his big stage competitive Heyball debut.

It is approaching two-and-a-half years since his last professional trophy, but O’Sullivan has very fond memories of Shanghai with the last of his record five titles coming in 2023.

Selby out, but other top 16 stars go through

Elsewhere on the opening day of the 2026 Shanghai Masters, Mark Selby exited the competition at the hands of Zhou Yuelong via a deciding frame.

In a break-building bonanza - four centuries were made, two from each player, and five further efforts over 80 - world number 22 Zhou allowed his opponent to score just one point across the final two frames, as he crafted runs of 83 and 107 from 5-4 down to score a 6-5 victory.

Next up for four-time ranking event finalist Zhou is Shaun Murphy on Wednesday.

Chris Wakelin registered the first match win of the tournament as he whitewashed Tang Hewen, 6-0, with breaks of 66, 77, 57 and 69.

Reigning Scottish Open champion Wakelin is appearing in this prestigious invitational for the second year in a row. Next up for the world number 13 is a meeting with Mark Williams on Tuesday.

Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins both racked up multiple century breaks in their victories during the afternoon session in China.

A two-time winner of this competition (in 2013 and 2016 when it was ranked) Ding posted a quartet of tons - 103, 125, 140 and 108, as well as a 71 - in a 6-2 success over Yao Dongcheng.

Over on the other table, current Welsh Open champion Barry Hawkins had a tough assignment against world number 25 Lei Peifan - the four highest ranked Chinese players outside the top 16 were also invited.

Hawkins started like a train as runs of 57, 121, and 121 again helped put him go 3-0 up before Lei pieced together three frames (77, 84) of his own to level.

Frames were then traded - Hawkins with a 61 in frame seven, Lei with a 78 in the eight - before a dramatic ninth frame that Hawkins won on the final black after Lei potted the final blue to leave his opponent needing a snooker, only to see the cueball go in-off in the same shot.

The runner-up in 2018, Hawkins then wrapped up a 6-4 victory with the aid of a 63 in frame ten for a 6-4 verdict.

Xiao Guodong survived a big scare against amateur wildcard Xu Jiarui.

Having been pegged back at 2-2 after taking the first two frames, Xu built a 5-2 lead and was on the cusp of a big upset win. However, reigning back-to-back Wuhan Open champion Xiao won frame eight on the final black before making it 5-4.

The players were then pulled off the baize to make way for the afternoon session, and didn't return until the evening to complete the tie. After several hours' wait, world number 11 Xiao levelled with the aid of a 55, and then finished in style with a 121 for a 6-5 comeback success.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 Shanghai Masters snooker invitational, visit our tournament information centre here.