Ronnie O’Sullivan due to face the women’s number 1 player in a ‘historic showdown’ --[Reported by Umva mag]

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s return to snooker is set to see him face the world’s best female player in China.

The seven-time World Champion has not been seen in action since his shock defeat against China’s He Guoqiang at the English Open last month.

The Rocket subsequently withdrew from the British Open and Wuhan Open and has hinted he will skip the Northern Irish Open later this month as he looks to cut back on his schedule.

O’Sullivan is next scheduled to play at the International Championship coming up in Nanjing next month and has already been dealt a mouthwatering first-round tie against women’s world No1 Mink Nutcharut.

Nutcharut won the World Mixed doubles alongside Neil Robertson in 2022 and is the only ever female to record a 147 maxmium break.

Should O’Sullivan appear in the event, it would mark his first match against Nutcharut as well as the first time he has played a female in a proffesional ervent.

The 24-year-old from Thailand reached the World Women’s Snooker Championship final earlier this year and has a two-year professional tour card after finishing top of the women’s world rankings at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk back in 2022, Nutcharut admitted that one of her snooker dreams was to face off against O’Sullivan in a big TV match.

‘A dream is to play with Ronnie in competition,’ she said at the time. ‘I want to know how I feel and if I can play well against him or not.

‘My favourite was Ronnie, he’s the best. I like style of Mark Selby, he’s too smart…and handsome. But I think the first one is Ronnie because he’s a god in snooker.’

However, O’Sullivan’s appearance in the Chinese tournament still remains up in the air, with the 48-year-old telling The Independent that he remains frustrated by the state of his game.

‘If you go by other people, you can see that gradually they lose whatever they had,’ he said. ‘That’s been happening for quite a while for me.

‘The thing that frustrates me is I’m not playing great. Once that zip isn’t there, I don’t know… there’s not much fun in it at the moment.

‘I’m enjoying just having time to myself, not having to practice, not having to be away. Maybe I’ll play in the next one in November (the aforementioned International Championship).

‘I’ll see – if I’m still enjoying not playing, then I won’t play. I’ll delay it until I feel like it.’

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