Ronnie O’Sullivan won a tournament carrying ranking points for the first time in 21 months by beating Joe Perry 4-0 in the final of PTC1.

It’s the perfect start to the season for 35-year-old O’Sullivan, who slipped to 11th place in the world rankings last term, with question marks hanging over his form and desire to keep playing at the top level.

His last full ranking title was the 2009 Roewe Shanghai Masters and this is the first time he has won a Players Tour Championship tournament. He collects £10,000 and 2,000 ranking points and goes straight to the top of the PTC Order of Merit.

“My game wasn’t too bad,” said the three-times World Champion. “Everone was rusty. I’m just having a go and doing my best. This is a big season for me, I’m giving myself one more year, or possibly two, to see if I can improve. It’s a work in progress but I do feel some optimism.

In the final the Grove cueman fired in breaks of 60, 105 and 117 to win in just 51 minutes.

O’Sullivan won seven matches over the past three days at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, conceding just nine frames in the process. He almost made a maximum 147 in his semi-final against Joe Jogia, but missed the final yellow on 120. Ronnie beat Joe 4-2, Stuart Bingham 4-2, Martin Gould 4-2, Bjorn Haneveer 4-0, Andy Hicks 4-1 and Mike Hallett 4-2 on his way to the final.

The Grove had two players, Chen Zhe and Zhang Anda, taking part in the preliminary qualifiers. Both got through unscathed, Zhe beating James Silverwood 4-1 and Jamie O’Neill 4-1, Anda beating Ryan Causton 4-2 and Michael Wild 4-0. Both then lost at the next stage, Zhe to Liam Highfield 2-4 and Anda to Mark Selby 1-4.

Of the other Grove players, world finalist Judd Trump surprisingly lost his first match to David Gilbert 1-4. Jack Lisowski beat Ian Glover 4-1 but then lost to Stephen Maguire 2-4. Matt Selt beat Stephen Craigie 4-2 and then lost to Martin Gould 3-4. Liu Song was beaten in his first match by Adam Duffy 0-4 and Yu Delu had a tough first match against Ali Carter and lost 1-4.