The Rocket Ignites: O'Sullivan Opens 2026/27 Season With Shanghai Victory
A familiar face in a familiar city
There is something almost ceremonial about Ronnie O'Sullivan arriving in Shanghai. Five titles. Countless memories etched into the parquet floor of the Luwan Gymnasium. When the Rocket walks into that arena, even the locals who barely knew what snooker was a decade ago recognise the swagger, the ease, the sense that this is a man who has never quite lost his relationship with the game — no matter how turbulent things get between them.
Monday brought the first competitive action of the 2026/27 season, and O'Sullivan was its opening act. Facing Chinese amateur wildcard Liu Linhao in the first round of the 2026 Shanghai Masters, he was characteristically unhurried. Not at his sharpest — he would likely be the first to admit it — but then, he rarely needs to be in these early exchanges. Breaks of 75, 73, 71 and 55 told the story efficiently enough: measured, purposeful, never threatened. Liu, for his part, gave a decent account of himself, but the gulf between a promising amateur and a five-time champion of this event is a wide one. O'Sullivan moved through to the last 16 without ever needing to find a higher gear.
Wilson awaits — and the stakes are already rising
The reward for that composed opening display is a second-round meeting with Kyren Wilson, the reigning champion, who along with the other top eight seeds received a bye straight through to the last 16. It is the kind of fixture the draw gods seem to arrange with a knowing smile — the six-time world champion against the man who currently holds the Shanghai crown. O'Sullivan last lifted the trophy here in 2023. Wilson will be intent on making it back-to-back titles. Expect the Luwan Gymnasium to be at its crackling best for that one.
Deciding frames and dramatic comebacks elsewhere
The rest of Monday's programme offered plenty of its own drama, much of it playing out in the high-pressure theatre of deciding frames.
Zhou Yuelong eliminated Mark Selby in what turned out to be one of the day's most absorbing matches. The pair combined for four century breaks and a procession of big contributions that kept the scoreboard ticking at a breathless pace. But when it mattered most — the 11th and final frame — it was Zhou who delivered, a composed 107 knocking Selby out of the event. The Leicester cueman was the only player from the top 16 to fall at the first hurdle, and while he will have been bitterly disappointed, the quality of the contest was not in question.
Equally gripping, if rather more nervy, was Xiao Guodong's escape act against amateur wildcard Xu Jiarui. The 37-year-old — a two-time Wuhan Open champion who knows how to dig in when the occasion demands it — looked in genuine danger of an upset when he found himself 5-2 down and running out of frames. The match was even pulled from the table for running long, Xiao returning later in the day to complete the job. He did so with something approaching authority, breaks of 55 and 121 sealing a comeback that will have felt considerably more controlled in the making than it looked from the outside.
The home crowd's loudest cheers, however, were reserved for Ding Junhui. The two-time Shanghai Masters champion — back when the event carried full ranking status — was in imperious form against Yao Dongcheng, compiling four centuries in a dominant display that had the local faithful roaring their approval. Ding now faces Zhao Xintong in the next round, a match-up between two of China's most celebrated players that promises to be quite the occasion.
Elsewhere, Barry Hawkins edged past Lei Peifan 6-4, registering a brace of 121 breaks in the process, while Chris Wakelin enjoyed the smoothest afternoon of anybody — a flawless 6-0 whitewash of Tang Hewen that will have done his confidence no harm whatsoever heading into the later rounds.
Tuesday's business
The remaining first-round matches conclude on Tuesday, with Si Jiahui taking on Pang Junxu and Jack Lisowski — stepping in as a late replacement for the absent Mark Allen — facing Zhang Anda. Later in the day, the top seeds begin their campaigns in earnest, and the tournament will start to take on its full shape.
For now, though, the season has a tone. Ronnie O'Sullivan is through, composed and unhurried, with Wilson already in his sights. In Shanghai, in that gymnasium, it feels like the snooker calendar has properly begun.
