World Open snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan battles past Alfie Burden to qualify for Yushan ranking event, Jimmy White loses

Ronnie O’Sullivan held off a spirited effort by Alfie Burden to book his spot in the last 64 of the World Open in Yushan with a 5-3 qualifying win that saw the world No. 1 finish with breaks of 83 and 58 to seal the victory.

The world No. 98 watched O’Sullivan open with a 51 break before pinching the second frame on the black, but rallied to restore parity at 2-2 at the mid-session interval with a fine run of 61 in the fourth frame showing his ability to upset the odds.

O’Sullivan – who had kicked off his trainers during the fourth frame due an ongoing foot injury – moved 3-2 clear with a 67 only for Burden to produce the highest break of the match with a superb 104, but it was the 41-time ranking event winner who had the final say by securing the closing two frames.

He advances to the last 64 of the ranking event in Yushan (March 18-24), situated in the Jiangxi Province of China, a competition that will see defending champion Trump and world champion Luca Brcel open their respective campaigns at the finals venue.

The Tour Championship in Manchester (April 1-7) with the top eight on the one-year list is likely to be his final tournament stop ahead of the World Championship in Sheffield (April 20-May 6).

Elsewhere, 2020 world finalist Kyren Wilson produced sparkling breaks of 114, 113 and 121 in a 5-0 whitewash win against six-time world finalist Jimmy White, while Shaun Murphy rolled in 70, 127, 112 and 56 in another one-sided 5-0 drubbing of Mohamed Ibrahim.

Elliot Slessor finished strongly in a 5-2 win over 12-time women’s world champion Reanne Evans with a 128 knock in the fifth frame giving him the platform to claim the final three frames.

But Slessor’s friend and Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson is out after losing 5-4 to Stuart Carrington, who won a tense decider having led 4-1, with 1997 world champion Ken Doherty also falling at the first hurdle in a 5-0 defeat to Sam Craigie.

Masters finalist Ali Carter overcame Ahmed Aly Elsayed 5-1 earlier on Tuesday with Iran’s leading player Hossein Vafaei ending Liam Pullen’s hopes in a 5-2 success.

• Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-3 Alfie Burden
• Louis Heathcote 5-0 Oliver Lines
• Jak Jones 5-3 Ryan Thomerson
• Noppon Saengkham 5-4 Himanshu Jain
• Robert Milkins 5-2 Barry Pinches
• Hossein Vafaei 5-2 Liam Pullen
• Elliot Slessor 5-2 Reanne Evans
• Sam Craigie 5-0 Ken Doherty
• Shaun Murphy 5-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
• Stuart Carrington 5-4 Gary Wilson
• Jackson Page 5-3 Liam Graham
• Lyu Haotian 5-2 Ashley Carty
• Sean O’Sullivan 5-1 Xiao Guodong
• Si Jiahui 5-1 Stan Moody
• Ali Carter 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
• Kyren Wilson 5-0 Jimmy White
• Daniel Wells 5-1 Liam Highfield
• Michael White 5-2 Haydon Pinhey
• Barry Hawkins 5-3 Steven Hallworth