RONNIE O’Sullivan was rarely tested as he completed a 5-1 victory over Thai veteran James Wattana in the first round of the Shanghai Masters.

The world number 10, who won this event two years ago, came into the match with some people questioning his commitment to snooker, having missed a series of tournaments during the 2010/11 season, including the high-profile German Masters. In the current campaign, he has pulled out of the Australian Open while waiting to board a connecting flight in Bangkok citing neck and back problems, and was one of a number of leading players to withdraw from next week’s Brazilian Masters without a valid reason.

The crowd favourite raced into a 2-0 lead with a 76 clearance and an entertaining break of 111. Wattana hit back in the third with composed runs of 26 and 44 to reduce the deficit. The 41-year-old was one of the world’s leading players in the 1990s, reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship in 1993 and 1997. His success made him one of Thailand’s leading celebrities, leading to a snooker boom in his country during the 1990s, a precursor to a similar phenomenon in China the following decade.

Wattana, who won five matches to qualify for Shanghai, failed to make the most of his opportunities to score heavily in frame four. O’Sullivan made a break of 53 and came back to add seven more before missing a frame ball red, but Wattana didn’t take advantage and a superb long red proved enough to his opponent a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval.

O’Sullivan turned up the heat after the interval with total clearances of 110 and a match-winning 97, but is likely to face a much tougher test when he takes on Stephen Maguire or Anthony Hamilton in the last 16.