The brand new tournament on the World Snooker Tour calendar got underway on Monday at the huge Qujiang E-sports Centre in Xi’an, with £177,000 for whoever emerges as the winner on Sunday.
O’Sullivan strolled to victory in his first match, beating Wang Yuchen 5-0 on Monday and was pushed much harder by the Hungarian teenager on Tuesday, but ultimately still scored a pretty comfortable win.
There were breaks of 82, 78, 57 and 65 from the Rocket, while there were some good moments for the teenage rookie, who won his frames thanks to efforts of 70 and 61.
However, there were too many mistakes as well from the 17-year-old, which is hardly surprising on a big stage against the seven-time world champion and he will have learned plenty from the experience.
O’Sullivan will take on China’s Yuan Sijun in the last 32 after the 24-year-old downed Neil Robertson earlier on Tuesday.
The Australian has been working hard to bounce back from a poor season last time around which saw him fall out of the world’s top 16, but he will leave Xi’an disappointed after a 5-2 defeat.
Robertson is not the only notable early exit, with the likes of John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Zhang Anda and Tom Ford all departing far earlier than they would have hoped.
Higgins was edged out 5-4 late on Monday night by Sunny Akani, Ding was stunned by Alfie Burden 5-4 in a dramatic decider and Ford was shocked by teenager Gong Chenzhi 5-1.
Zhang was hoping to rediscover the fantastic form he showed last season in which he won the International Championship and beat the Rocket twice, but he was pretty handily ousted 5-2 by Graeme Dott.
Shaun Murphy was certainly not falling foul of an upset against Jamie Clarke on Tuesday as he triumphed 5-0 with breaks of 128, 103, 100, 84 and 76.
It was the performance of the tournament so far from the Magician and he will return in the last 32 against Noppon Saengkham or Dominic Dale.
The event is available to watch free on Matchroom.live.
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