Ronnie O'Sullivan survives scare in first round of English Open
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Updated 14/10/2019 at 21:37 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan fought back from two frames down and rode his luck in a thrilling match to win 4-3 against Jamie O'Neill.
O'Sullivan scraped into the second round of the English Open
Image credit: Getty Images
The English Open favourite and World No 2 hit just nine points in the opening two frames and struggled the find his oft-imperious rhythm as O'Neill rose to the occasion in Crawley.
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O'Sullivan hit back with breaks of 90 and 102 to level the match, but O'Neill restored his lead with a break of 59.
And O'Neill once again took the initiative and looked on the verge of the second round before a nervous foul, knocking the red ball with his cue, gifted the sixth frame to O'Sullivan who required just one more visit to the table.
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Jamie O'Neill makes foul at crucial moment with Ronnie O'Sullivan match in the balance
And O'Sullivan's experience won out as he saw out the deciding set with a break of 81.
Tuesday sees 2018 finalist Mark Davis taking on another former world champion Graeme Dott, while Kyren Wilson faces off against 2016 English Open champion Liang Wenbo .
The English Open is part of the Home Nations Series, also comprising the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open and the Welsh Open, with a bonus of £1 million on offer to any player who can win all four tournaments in the same season.
The 128-player field are competing for prize money of £366,000, broken down as follows:
| PRIZE MONEY | |
| Winner | £70,000 |
| Runner-up | £30,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £20,000 |
| Quarter-finalists | £10,000 |
| Last 16 | £6,000 |
| Last 32 | £3,500 |
| Last 64 | £2,500 |
| Highest break | £2,000 |
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