Ronnie O'Sullivan gets past Ali Carter to ease into Shanghai Masters quarter-fnals

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan powered past Ali Carter to extend his winning streak in the Shanghai Masters to 16 matches.

O’Sullivan, who has won the last three editions of the tournament, produced back-to-back breaks of 101, 74 and 81 as he pulled away to book his place in the quarter-finals.

"I love to do well in the really big tournaments and this is a very important one," the 47-year-old O’Sullivan told wst.tv.

"I’d love to win this tournament and even when it was a ranking tournament, it was a fantastic event. It is a great city and I really love coming to this place."

O’Sullivan will next face John Higgins, who fired five half-centuries in a 6-3 win over 2015 tournament champion Kyren Wilson.

Judd Trump recovered a 42-point deficit in the deciding frame to overcome his close friend Jack Lisowski and maintain his hopes of a first Shanghai Masters title, having lost in the final three times.

Mark Selby also needed a decider to see off Hossein Vafaei while in the two remaining round one matches there were 6-1 wins for Mark Williams over Pang Junxu and Robert Milkins against Bai Yulu.