O’Sullivan & Trump fight hard for first-round wins

On the first day of the International Championship in Nanjing, China, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump were able to prevail in close first-round matches.

O’Sullivan, a seven-time world champion, led his fellow Englishman by two frames on three separate occasions when he defeated world number 76 Allan Taylor 6-5 in the final five frames.

Meanwhile, world number one Dylan Emery, who is ranked 91st in the world, defeated world number one Trump with a 6-4 victory.

Welshman Emery had a great match all around, and his second century saw him draw level at 4-4 with a 120 break.

O’Sullivan, who turns 50 next month, has a hard choice in the tournaments he enters.

This year, he has reached the finals of the Saudi Arabia Masters and the Shanghai Masters, but he was at risk of dropping out in Nanjing.

Taylor had a 4-1 lead in mind, but after potting a red and leaving O’Sullivan in need of a snooker, he went in-off with his next shot to put the black on display.

O’Sullivan, the world’s fifth player, made a clearance of 48 to cut the lead to 3-2 before Taylor won a tense sixth frame where both players squandered chances.

O’Sullivan broke the records of 100, 119, and 129 from 4-2 down to take the lead for the first time.

O’Sullivan won a decider with a 128 break to set up a second-round meeting with England’s Sanderson Lam after Taylor’s 53 in the tenth frame then forced a decider.

When you’re cueing effectively, O’Sullivan said, “It never feels like a grind.”

I’ve been playing more often than I have in a while, perhaps ten years.

The tournament’s opening day, which ends on November 9th, was scheduled to feature a mix of pre-qualifier, first round, and second-round matches.

In her 6-4 pre-qualification defeat to 14-year-old wildcard Wang Xinzhong, two-time women’s world champion Bai Yulu recorded her highest break of a female player in professional competition with a 145.

Shaun Murphy and the Chinese teenager Wang tied for second place after their 6-1 victory over Robbie Williams, who had defeated English teen Wang earlier in the day.

First-round favorites David Grace and Oliver Brown faced English duo Ding Junhui and Zhao Xintong, who were both comfortable winners.

However, China’s Jiang Jun, the world number 111, defeated England’s Chris Wakelin 6-2 in round two of the International Championship final, which was won by Ding last year.