Ronnie O’Sullivan swoops in from cream tea to return to winning ways in World Grand Prix

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Marc Mayo15 December 2021

Ronnie O’Sullivan arrived in the nick of time to open his World Grand Prix campaign with a victory over Andy Hicks on Wednesday - having almost missed the start time while in a cafe.

A first-round cruise helped the 46-year-old into the next round, to bounce back from a semi-final defeat to John Higgins at last week’s Scottish Open.

The Rocket did not need to find top gear to come through against Hicks, making just one half-century break in the final frame to comfortably progress into round two, where he will face Hossein Vafaei.

The Iranian, who defeated O'Sullivan 5-0 at the German Masters last month, chalked up breaks of 119 and 62 as he beat Gary Wilson 4-1.

O'Sullivan revealed he had almost been late for his match, having been enjoying a pre-game snack. He told ITV: "I only got to the venue about 10 minutes before the game today.

"If there is a Marks & Spencer around with a cafe, I can never resist the scones with clotted cream and a cup of tea. I managed to arrive just in time.

"It was a nice crowd today and a great venue, it's good to be here. When I started this run of tournaments, I just looked on it like a road trip.

"I have really enjoyed it. I have just had two days in a spa, getting treatments and massages. I actually feel more tired for doing nothing, I am so relaxed it's hard to get going. Hopefully after a day here I will liven up a bit."

Elsewhere in the afternoon session, Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel missed out on the chance of a maximum as he defeated Northern Ireland's Jordan Brown.

The Belgian scored a century break in the opening frame and 57 in the next then looked on for a 147 chance in frame three, but lost position on the 12th red on the way to a 4-1 victory. Brecel will next meet Jimmy Robertson, who came through 4-2 against Matthew Selt.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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