Ronnie O'Sullivan has taken his first step towards the championship of Snooker China Open 2009 by beating Fergal O'Brien 5:3 in the first round. In the post-match interview O'Sullivan spoke highly of his next opponent, China's starlet Xiao Guodong, saying Xiao had the potential to become a top player.

O'Sullivan receiving an interview from WWW.SINA.COM after the match.

The current world No.1 player Ronnie O'Sullivan has a lot of supporters in China due to his fast and attacking playing manner. In yesterday's first round of the tournament, O'Sullivan outclassed Fergal O'Brien 5:3 in a close match. After the match, he gave an interview to WWW.SINA.COM.

O'Sullivan commented first on the match: "It was a 50-50 game. I was pleased to win the last two frames and yes, I'm very happy."

O'Sullivan also talked about Xiao Guodong, his opponent in the next round, who knocked Ding Junhui out of the tournament yesterday: "I watched his game against Ding; he is a good player, has a bright future. Maybe he can become a top player one day. I don't know much about him but he deserves respect."

When asked about his goal in this tournament, "The Rocket" said: "I hope I can win the tournament, but these are still the early stages and I have a long way to go. I can't get too carried away. It would be great to be the winner."

The 2009 China Open professional snooker tournament is taking place between March 30 and April 5 2009 at the Beijing Student University Stadium. In other matches of the first round, Dave Harold 5:0 Stephen Maguire, Peter Ebdon 5:2 Tang Jun, Ricky Walden 5:2 Joe Perry, Stephen Hendry 5:3 Robert Milkins, Allister Carter 5:0 Nigel Bond, Stuart Pettman 5:3 Mark Allen, Graeme Dott 5:3 Yu Delu, Mark Selby 5:1 Stephen Lee, Shaun Murphy 5:3 Cao Xinlong, Mark King 5:2 Mark Williams, Ryan Day 5:2 Jamie Cope, John Higgins 5 : 4 Anthony Hamilton, Marco Fu 2:5 Tian Penghui.

(China.org.cn by Xiang Bin April 2, 2009)