Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals illness as he avoids minor scare to see off Pang Junxu at World Snooker Championship

An ill Ronnie O’Sullivan avoided a minor scare to beat Pang Junxu 10-7 and reach the second round of the World Championship.

O’Sullivan was far from his best with numerous errors throughout the day but still managed to resist a late comeback from Pang to get over the line and revealed he has been carrying a “bug” so was relieved to win.

“I’m relieved it’s over,” said O’Sullivan in the Eurosport studio. “I’ve got a bug so I’ve been absolutely hanging all day – legs, limbs, everything has gone – just hanging in there.

“I was so desperate just to get over the line. It’s a horrible feeling. I just wanted to see if I can get through, have a few days rest but I might just hang around the Crucible and give everyone my bug!

“I was so tired that I feel relaxed. It’s mad. I just can’t wait to get to my bed. I’m struggling.”

Most of the frames followed the same pattern of O’Sullivan making a mistake, before Pang struggled to make an impact, then the defending champion found a way to steal the frame.

Having led 5-0, Pang made a mini fight-back at the end of the first session to trail 6-3 going into the evening.

However, O’Sullivan made a break of 82 and won a key safety battle in the 11th frame to take an 8-3 lead.

It looked like he was going to win without a mid-session interval, until he missed a mid-distance red to the bottom-right pocket in the next frame.

With one red left on the table, and just five points behind his opponent, Pang went for what appeared to be a safety shot but fluked the red into the bottom left corner and went on to win the frame.

O’Sullivan responded with breaks of 31 and 33 to restore his five-frame advantage but still looked out of sorts following the interval, as Pang made a 78 to trail 9-5.

Momentum was now on the world No. 35’s side as he impressively won the next two frames with breaks of 70 and 73 with the pressure now seriously ramping up on O’Sullivan.

Pang went for a difficult long red at the start of the 17th frame and missed it, leaving O’Sullivan with a big chance to seal the match.

He took it with his best showing of the night with a rapid break of 81 to advance into round two.

As has become World Championship tradition, only the defending champion concludes their match on the opening day, so five other matches got underway on Saturday.

Qualifier Jak Jones is 5-4 ahead of Ali Carter after a tight first session and will finish their match on Sunday night.

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