Championship League: Ronnie O'Sullivan tops his group after three successive wins
- Sean Fisher
- 5 July 2022
In what was his first appearance since winning a record-equalling seventh World Championship, Ronnie O'Sullivan topped his group in the Championship League on Monday.
Ronnie O'Sullivan made a perfect return to snooker on Monday, despite having not played since May when he won his seventh World Championship title.
O'Sullivan made his return in the Championship League at Leicester, and stormed to the top of his group with three successive wins.
His first came in a 3-0 whitewash victory over Farakh Ajaib, and Rocket followed it up with 3-1 wins over Alfie Burden and Alexander Ursenbacher.
Up and running for the new campaign. Ronnie O'Sullivan has beaten Farakh Ajaib 3-0 in his first match of the season.#ChampionshipLeagueSnooker pic.twitter.com/eVrr1egzr5
— BetVictor Championship League Snooker (@CLSnooker) July 4, 2022
O'Sullivan seemed to improve as play continued, with the 46-year-old making breaks of 56, 58 and finally 121 in his third match against Ursenbacher.
Topping the group puts O'Sullivan through to the next stage of the event later this month, while Jamie Jones was the other man to keep his campaign alive on Monday.
After completing a successful snooker return, O'Sullivan was mightily pleased with his performance in Leicester, although he insists he wouldn't have minded too much if it didn't all go to plan.
"I just enjoyed playing, it felt good to be out there hitting balls again I suppose," he said.
"Even if I play rubbish, it doesn't bother me, I can quickly get over it and move onto the things I enjoy."
O'Sullivan, Jones and the rest of the Stage One winners will return for their second groups from 25-27 July, with the first group stage running all the way until 21 July.
