Ronnie O’Sullivan into Shanghai Masters quarter-finals

O’Sullivan, who has won the last three editions of the tournament, produced back-to-back breaks of 101, 74 and 81 as he pulled away to book his place in the quarter-finals.

“I love to do well in the really big tournaments and this is a very important one,” the 47-year-old O’Sullivan told wst.tv.

“I’d love to win this tournament and even when it was a ranking tournament, it was a fantastic event. It is a great city and I really love coming to this place.”

O’Sullivan will next face Higgins, who fired five half-centuries in a 6-3 win over 2015 Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson.

Judd Trump recovered a 42-point deficit in the deciding frame to overcome his close friend Jack Lisowski and maintain his hopes of a first Shanghai Masters title, having lost in the final three times.

Mark Selby also needed a decider to see off Hossein Vafaei while in the two remaining round one matches there were 6-1 wins for Mark Williams over Pang Junxu and Robert Milkins against Bai Yulu.

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