Ronnie O'Sullivan sends message to snooker fans after cruising past He Guoqiang

Ronnie O’Sullivan smoothly advanced to the third round of the International Championship, securing a 6-2 victory over local favourite He Guoqiang in Nanjing. The seven-time world champion bounced back from an initial loss in the opening frame, dominating the match with breaks of 73, 87, 83 and 70.

Chinese player He managed to clinch a close sixth frame, reducing his deficit before O’Sullivan, ranked fifth in the world, fired off two more half-century breaks, setting up a last-32 clash with Pang Junxu. "I get very good support wherever I go all over the world," O’Sullivan, who is participating in a tournament for the first time since his defeat to He at the English Open in September, shared with the World Snooker Tour after his win.

"I think that’s just because I’ve been playing the game for so long now. I’ve won a lot of big titles, I think that’s what people like: to win the big tournaments, holding all the records. As well as my style of play, I’ve managed to entertain the fans."

"If you asked 100 snooker fans who they’d want to watch, probably the majority of them would say me because I kind of tick every box there is to tick as a sportsman."

Meanwhile, world champion Kyren Wilson secured a 6-3 victory over Liu Hongyu with a break of 143, while world number one Judd Trump concluded with a century in his 6-0 thrashing of Sanderson Lam. Stuart Bingham, the 2015 world champion, was completely outplayed 6-0 by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

Mark Williams is set to face the Thai player following his walkover win against Mark Davis. Shaun Murphy progressed with a walkover victory, while reigning champion Zhang Anda triumphed over David Grace with a 6-3 win.