Scottish Open 2020: 'Chang could be the best' - Ronnie O'Sullivan praises vanquished opponent

ByCarrie Dunn

Updated 10/12/2020 at 11:40 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan had plenty of praise for Chang Bingyu, the Chinese teenager he beat to progress to the third round of the Scottish Open. The six-time world champion secured a 4-1 victory, with a century break in the mix, but the 18-year-old provided sterner opposition than the scoreline suggested.

Ronnie O'Sullivan had plenty of praise for Chang Bingyu, the Chinese teenager he beat to progress to the third round of the Scottish Open.

The six-time world champion had a comfortable 4-1 win according to the scoreboard - but he assured Andy Goldstein in the Eurosport studio that it wasn't the case.

"I didn't think it was great, to be honest with you," said O'Sullivan. "I just didn't feel I was going to play well tonight, all day, I just thought something's not right. You can feel it. I just had to try and block it out of my head and just try and focus on the game.

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"I knew I was playing a very, very good player, he's super-talented. He's the nearest to someone like Judd [Trump] because he scores really quick. He's dangerous.

He could be very good - he's very good now. When I say he could be very good, he could be the best.

"He scores so quick. If you don't score quick you can never really be dangerous at this game. He's one of them - he gets on with it, bang bang bang, and before you know it he can reel three, four frames off. You've got to be able to do that if you want to win big. If you just want to win the odd tournament you can get away with plodding around the table.

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This kid has the super ingredient you need to be a dangerous player."

O'Sullivan was benefiting from the use of a different tip - having bitten off the one on his cue at the end of his first-round match in disgust.

"The other one was really spongy and soft, and I couldn't get any power on it," he revealed. "This one, as soon as I hit the ball, the white was fizzing around. I was like wow, this is like a different game."

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