OSullivan seals Shanghai Masters

O'Sullivan rattled in a break of 70 in the opener and won a tactical frame lasting almost an hour to move 3-0 up.

A break of 80 put him 4-1 ahead before Liang came back with 81 in the next.

Breaks of 75 and 91 helped 33-year-old O'Sullivan go 6-3 ahead after the first session and he duly secured his 22nd career title in just over four hours.

"I'm very happy to have won the tournament and got my season off to a good start," said O'Sullivan.

"It was a tough match, I struggled with my technique and I wasn't hitting the ball sweetly.

"I would have loved to entertain and play open snooker as that was the kind of game I was expecting but it got slow and there were some drawn out frames so it was hard to build any momentum.

"I was only able to play flamboyant snooker in two or three frames. The rest of it was steady, hard, match snooker and I needed patience."

The Englishman paid tribute to his Chinese opponent for making the final difficult for him.

"You think you've got him in trouble and you'll get back to the table and then he pots a difficult ball - and he pots so many - and you have to stay in your seat, so you can get frustrated," he added.

"It's very satisfying to get a victory, especially here in China where snooker is so popular."

R O'Sullivan (Eng) 10-5 Liang Wenbo (Chn)

70-2 (70); 73-59; 78-53; 27-67; 87-0 (87); 0-81 (81); 75-7 (75); 99-34 (91); 0-89 (89); 9-63; 109-0 (109); 51-62; 85-26 (56); 77-43 (69); 71-0 (71)