Ronnie O’Sullivan makes winning start at Six Red World Snooker Championship, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham reach last 16

Ronnie O’Sullivan survived a Jimmy Robertson comeback to complete a 5-3 victory in his opening Group H match at the Six Red World Snooker Championship in Bangkok.

The seven-time defending world champion raced 4-0 clear boosted by a 64 break in the second frame only to watch his fellow Englishman Robertson reel off three straight frames before the world No. 1 regrouped to dominate the eighth frame in securing the win.

O’Sullivan next meets world junior champion Stan Moody and Thai snooker icon James Wattana on Wednesday chasing one more win to cement his spot in the last 16 at the Thammasat University Convention Centre in Pathum Thani.

Masters champion Judd Trump made it two wins from two in the shorter format, after his 5-0 whitewash of Ricky Walden on Monday, by winning the final three frames in a 5-4 victory over Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn in Group D.

Former world champions John Higgins and Stuart Bingham earlier wasted little time in confirming their respective places in the knockout stage.

2019 finalist Higgins needed to defeat local amateur Poramin Danjirakul in his final Group C match after following up a 5-2 win over Ken Doherty with a 5-1 loss to Hossein Vafaei on Monday evening.

But the Scot had few problems in racing to a 5-0 whitewash win on Tuesday – including a 71 in the fourth frame, the highest of the event so far – that saw him advance to the knockout stage alongside Vafaei, who topped the group on maximum points with a 5-1 victory against the eliminated Doherty.

The 2015 world champion, Stuart Bingham, completed a 5-2 win over former Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown to ensure his progress with a match to spare in Group G after a 5-1 victory over Egypt’s Mahmoud El Hareedy a day earlier.

Bingham lost 8-6 to Ricky Walden in the 2008 final and 8-7 to Ding Junhui in the Six Red title match eight years later.

“Anybody can pot five reds and five blacks, and you are 40 up with 35 on, so it is tough,” said Bingham on World Snooker Tour.

“You’ve got to be on your game and you’ve got to play sensible. You don’t need to make big breaks, you just need to win the frames.”

Zhang Anda secured his progress as Group A winner with a 5-0 whitewash of Ding, who joined him in the last 16 as the runner-up.

Defending champion Stephen Maguire was already eliminated after losing to Ding and Zhang on Monday before his 5-0 whitewash of former women’s world champion Mink Nutcharut.

2017 winner Mark Williams has work to do on Wednesday to avoid tumbling out in the first round after losing 5-2 to Joe Perry in his tournament opener in Group F.

Andres Petrov joined Perry at the top of the section with a 5-3 win over Sunny Akani.

The top two from each group progress to the last-16 knockout stage with the final contested on Saturday.

Latest results on Tuesday

Group C

• John Higgins 5-0 Poramin Danjirakul
• Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ken Doherty

Group E

• Matthew Selt 4-5 Chris Wakelin
• Robert Milkins 0-5 Dechawat Poomjaeng

Group A

• Stephen Maguire 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
• Ding Junhui 0-5 Zhang Anda

Group G

• Jordan Brown 2-5 Stuart Bingham
• Mahmoud El Hareedy 1-5 Noppon Saengkham

Group B

• Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Jimmy White
• Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Tom Ford

Group F

• Joe Perry 5-2 Mark Williams
• Andres Petrov 5-3 Sunny Akani

Group H

• Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 Jimmy Robertson
• James Wattana 5-1 Stan Moody

Group D

• Judd Trump 5-4 Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn
• Ricky Walden 5-1 Ma Hailong

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