Ronnie O’Sullivan. Picture by Monique Limbos

RONNIE O’Sullivan has threatened to quit the UK Championship should his broken ankle not get any better in time for his second round match on Sunday.

The four-times UK Championship winner played through the pain barrier in his first round 6-2 win over Daniel Wells earlier today (Thursday) after injuring his left ankle while running in Essex.

O’Sullivan tweeted a picture of his swollen ankle earlier in the week and when not at the table used a foot stall to rest his left his foot. But breaks of  60, 63, 88 and 65 helped him to reach the second round and a meeting with Peter Lines – should he be fit enough to play.

“To be honest I didn’t enjoy any of that, it was painful for me to play out there,” said a dejected O’Sullivan.

“I practised but I’m hobbling about during the match. I’m all over the gaff to be honest with you. I just thought I’d give it a go but if it doesn’t improve then I’m not sure I’m going to play my next match because I can’t get on the shot properly.

“It’s swelling up and it’s painful. I’ve taken all the pain killers and done all that I can do but to be honest if it’s not better by Sunday then I probably won’t play.

“I’m absolutely gutted because I’m enjoying my snooker more than ever so to do that through running, I’m really angry with myself.”

Elsewhere on Day 3, recent back-t0-back European Tour winner Shaun Murphy battled to a 6-3 win over James Wattana but there was heartbreak for Ali Carter who lost out 6-5 to China’s Zhang Anda in his first ranking match back since undergoing treatment for lung cancer – Carter at one stage led 4-2.

Defending champion Neil Robertson made short work of his first round match, beating amateur player Joe O’Connor 6-0. The Australian and world number two beforehand tweeted a tribute to cricketer Phillip Hughes who tragically passed away earlier in the day.

Mark Allen secured his spot in the next round thanks to a 6-2 victory over talented amateur player Eden Sharav and Stephen Maguire and Marco Fu won with wins against Lu Ning and Ahmed Saif respectively.

Brazilian player Igor Figueiredo caused one of the biggest surprises so far in this year’s UK Championship after defeating Fergal O’Brien 6-4 and 17-year-old Lu Haotian beat fellow Chinese star Cao Yupoeng 6-4 to book his place in round two.

Former world champions Ken Doherty and Mark Williams booked their place into the last 64 with wins against Mitchell Mann and Steven Hallworth respectively.

The second round (Last 64) games begin on Saturday.

Other results from UK Championship Day 3

Luca BRECEL 6-1 Noppon SAENGKHAM
Jimmy ROBERTSON 6-1 Zhou YELONG
Robin HULL 6-5 Thepchaiya UN-NOOH
Liam HIGHFIELD 6-3 Jamie JONES
Mark DAVIS 6-2 Jak JONES
Jack LISOWSKI 6-1 Chris MELLING
Liang WENBO 6-3 David GRACE
Rory McLEOD 6-2 Ian BURNS
Peter LINES 6-4 Joe SWAIL
Michael WHITE 6-2 Cao XINLONG
Mark JOYCE 6-2 Ratchayothin YOTHARUCK