Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins warm up for Masters blockbuster with New Year clash
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Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins will meet in a blockbuster opening round clash at the Masters, but warm up for that with an exhibition match in China just days earlier. The Rocket and the Wizard are part of an eye-catching line-up at an exhibition event in Hangzhou from 1-3 January.
![[2023 World Snooker Shanghai Masters - Day 4]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/GettyImages-1680228558.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, Xiao Guodong and Jack Lisowski are all also involved in the CBSA Snooker Superstar Invitational Tournament as they all see in the start of 2025 in China. Nothing is on the line at the exhibition event, but O’Sullivan and Higgins playing each other just 10 days before their meeting at Alexandra Palace may add a little spice to the contest.
Higgins is also playing Williams, while the Rocket’s other match in the event is against Ding Junhui. O’Sullivan has travelled to Hangzhou from Macau, where he won all five of his games at another exhibition event, the Macau Masters. The seven-time world champion beat Lisowski, Marco Fu, Si Jiahui, Kyren Wilson and Stuart Bingham in the competition which got underway on Christmas Day.
O’Sullivan spoke of his globe-trotting festive season at the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship earlier this month, admitting it might not be ideal Masters preparation. ‘I get back maybe 3 or 4 of January,’ said O’Sullivan in Saudi. ‘I’m here [Riyadh], then Macau for a week, then China for 3-4 days then I’m coming home.
‘I think it’s probably not an ideal situation coming here at Christmas and then going to China, but [last season] I did so well winning Shanghai, the UK Championship and I can’t remember what else I’ve done, but I really played a lot of snooker, so it didn’t matter.
