International Championship snooker 2023 LIVE – Ronnie O’Sullivan faces Jak Jones as Judd Trump takes on Stephen Maguire

Ronnie O’Sullivan – Jak Jones

For the third frame running, though, it’s Jones who pots the first ball, a red along the top cushion. With so many safety shots having been played, the reds are fairly well spread, so this is a decent chance for him to put together a sizable break.

A rare safety battle to get frame three underway, despite a brief one which is ended by Jones missing a thumping red to the right corner. Ronnie isn’t left anything easy though. The one possible pot to the same pocket is hampered by the blue, so he plays safe, leaving the cue ball very close to the top cushion

Dylan Emery 0-2 John Higgins

Mark Selby 1-0 Xiao Guodong

Gary Wilson 2-0 Ding Junhui

Pang Junxu 1-0 Mark Davis

Dominic Dale 1-0 Lyu Haotian

Judd Trump 0-2 Stephen Maguire

Zhou Yuelong 0-2 Daniel Wells

The Rocket cleans up the remaining colors up to the black, which he doesn’t even attempt, and he’s now got a two frame lead in double quick time. Jones has a mountain to climb

And then the Welshman undoes all that good work with a wild attempt at a red to the left corner. It comes back up the table and is an easy pot to the middle for Ronnie. Frame over now, surely.

More trouble for Ronnie, as Jones lays up a similar snooker, and again the Rocket can’t escape. Those two fouls going Jak’s way mean the frame is now live again!

Jones keeps going though, and he takes the penultimate red with a black, before playing a terrific safety behind the black, which is now on his spot. The red is at the baulk end, just outside of the D. It’s a tough hit, and Ronnie brushes the yellow. That’s one snooker back

And the slender difference between the lead and the points left on the table gives Jones a real predicament. He pots one red, but knows he has to take a high value color with it. He chooses the pink, and is left with a tough red along the top cushion. He takes it, but leaves an even harder black to the green pocket. It catches the jaws, but doesn’t go in, and he now needs snookers

Ronnie is living up to his tag in this frame. He’s playing at a great pace and the points are flowing. There’s a slight error on 60 where he overscrews minimally, but recovers to pot a red into the right middle. He never quite regains position though, missing a pot to the right corner. 56 the lead with 59 left on

The problem for Jak is that you simply can’t afford to gift O’Sullivan these kind of chances. He quickly finds position around the black, meaning the points come pretty quickly. The key shot is off the blue, when he needs to open up the pack below the pink spot, and he does so perfectly. It’s a frame winning chance now

A strong start to the frame again for Jones, who clips a delicate red into the left middle and lands handily on the blue. Again, though, the break comes crumbling down prematurely, making 12 before missing a pot to the green pocket, and leaving the Rocket with an easy starter

Dylan Emery 0-0 John Higgins

Mark Selby 0-0 Xiao Guodong

Gary Wilson 1-0 Ding Junhui

Pang Junxu 1-0 Mark Davis

Dominic Dale 1-0 Lyu Haotian

Judd Trump 0-1 Stephen Maguire

Zhou Yuelong 0-1 Daniel Wells

49 the end break from Ronnie, as he finishes on 81 for the frame when he can’t quite squeeze home a double on the yellow. More than enough to take the lead though.

The Rocket opens up that cluster of reds by the pink by potting one of them, and bringing the rest into play. He races past the snookers required stage before fluking a red that puts the frame well and truly to bed.

The O’Sullivan safety sees him put the yellow near the left middle, while the cue ball goes to the right hand side of the table. He’s left Jones a half chance, which he needs to be taking if he’s going to win this match. He can’t though, and – even worse – leaves a starter for Ronnie, who’s back at the table and should win the frame from here

O’Sullivan is still finding his flow, and he runs out of position after reaching 32. With four reds tied up just below the pink and a further three not in prime position, he plays safe off the yellow

The Rocket is underway now, too, sinking a red that was hanging close to the left corner. The cue ball heads up towards the top end of the table, and he requires the rest to pot the yellow, but that gets him position at the right end of the table too. This is a good chance for him.

An early nervous-settler for Jones, who takes advantage of Ronnie missing a long red off the break off by sinking a pot of his own. He adds the blue off its spot, before confidently taking another red and the yellow. The cue ball gets stuck in the pack off the side cushion though. End of break.

Right, the boys are on the baize and it’s time to get going. Jones will break things off. We’re underway

We’re keeping an eye on Ronnie O’Sullivan’s clash with Jak Jones. THey’ve only met once before, a 4-2 win over the Rocket in a minor tour event way back in 2013

These are single-session matches, with a race to six frames to determine the winner. It stays that way until the semi-finals, when best of 17 frames is used

Defending champion Ryan Day has booked his place in the last-16 today by thrashing Ross Muir 6-1. There have also been wins earlier on for Ali Carter, who’s knocked out Stuart Bingham, and a couple of shocks as well, with Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson beaten by Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Jordan Brown respectively.

Hello and welcome to our lunchtime coverage from the International Championship in Tianjin. We’re close to completing the last-32 stage of the tournament, with some big names still to play their second round match, including John Higgins, Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan and top seed Judd Trump.

The defeat means Brecel cannot topple Ronnie O’Sullivan from top spot when the International Championship trophy and £175,000 first prize is claimed on Sunday, but Judd Trump and Mark Allen remain in the hunt for the coveted spot.

A 6-0 whitewash of Michael White enabled Trump to record a 22nd straight win in ranking events and move above Brecel into second spot in the latest provisional rankings by 1,500 points, but he remains 10,000 behind Ronnie O’Sullivan after the seven-time world champion hit three centuries in a 6-3 win over Mark Joyce from 2-0 adrift.

World No. 4 Mark Allen is 85,000 points behind O’Sullivan, but can still claim the world No. 1 spot for the first time in his career if he repeats his 2018 International Championship title triumph on Sunday.

The Northern Irishman started his campaign by winning the final five frames in a 6-3 victory over Oliver Lines.