Ronnie O'Sullivan Archives

Ronnie O’Sullivan threatens to quit in row with snooker chiefs

Ronnie O’Sullivan has warned he will quit snooker if he is restricted from playing non-tour events in China, saying his career is at a “crossroads”.

Exhibition events in East Asia are becoming increasingly lucrative but often clash with World Snooker Tour (WST) dates.

Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and other UK-based players are contracted to play in WST tournaments and could face sanctions if they miss events.

“If I can’t go and do what I need to do, which is play a lot in China, I won’t ever play again,” he told the BBC. “So, we’re at a kind of crossroads now.

“If that gets to the point where I’m not able to do that, I’m not allowed to do that, I probably won’t play. I’ll probably go and play Chinese 8-Ball because I still want to play snooker, I still want a cue in my hand.

“There’s just not enough here in the UK for me to justify the effort that I put in.

“If someone’s going to respect me and value me more, why would I not go there? It’s like being in an unhealthy relationship with someone. Why would you be in that?”

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Ronnie O’Sullivan, who said he wanted to play snooker for many years to come, has famously derided the standard on the WST in the past, suggesting he would need to lose a limb to drop down the rankings.

He still adopts that stance, claiming he is “revolted” by mediocrity.

“I don’t think it’s very hard to be a top-16 snooker player. I could probably get away with playing once a week for two or three hours a day,” said the 47-year-old.

“I find it hard to put myself in their shoes because I was in their shoes and I didn’t accept top 50 as OK.

“I’m not a great lover for mediocrity… I find it quite revolting in some ways, when I see people accepting that. That’s why I don’t hang around snooker people at venues because I just don’t like seeing it.

“I don’t think there’s enough good matches. I think there’s a lot of players that people don’t know, that don’t play the game in the right way.”

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Ronnie O’Sullivan stunned out of World Snooker Championship

SHEFFIELD: Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan succumbed to an astounding collapse as he was knocked out of the ongoing World Snooker Championship 2023 after a shocking 10-13 defeat at the hands of Luca Brecel.

Reigning champion Ronnie O’Sullivan resumed his quarter-final clash with Luca Brecel with a solid 10-6 advantage only to lose seven consecutive frames from 10th-ranked Belgium’s cueist, who recorded a 13-10 victory at the Crucible.

Briefly after heading into the final session, O’Sullivan made a costly error as he managed to miss a black off its place; allowing Brecel to benefit. In the following frame, The Rocket made another mistake that was met with a break of 64.

Brecel then eventually managed to cut O’Sullivan’s lead to 10-9 before soon catching up with the seasoned cueist with a break of 72.

After drawing level with O’Sullivan after the 20th frame, there was no stopping Brecel as he continued his domination with breaks of 66, 78 and 63 to claim a remarkable victory.

Brecel completely outclassed O’Sullivan in the finale as the latter failed to win a single frame in the session for the first time after his 17-11 loss to Graeme Dott in the 2006 semi-final.

In another enthralling quarter-final, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen made it to the World Snooker Championship semi-finals for just the second time in his decorated career with a hard-fought 13-10 victory over Jak Jones.

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Thailand’s Saengkham upsets Ronnie O’Sullivan in World Grand Prix

GLOUCESTERSHIRE: Rookie Thai cueist Noppon Saengkham handed an upset defeat to reigning world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the second-round fixture of the ongoing World Grand Prix 2023 here on Wednesday.

The top-ranked cueist Ronnie had a shocking end to his World Grand Prix campaign as he succumbed to an upset defeat at the hands of 33rd-ranked Saengkham.

In an enthralling second-round clash of the ranking event, Saengkham outclassed Ronnie by 4-2 in the Best of Seven.

Ronnie scripted a perfect start to the match as he scored a century in the first frame before dominating Saegkham in the next.

Following a 2-0 deficit, Saengkham soon fired back by claiming three consecutive frames to move one frame within a historic victory.

The sixth and final frame of the match saw a tight tug of war between the cueists but it was Saengkham who held his nerves calm to edge Ronnie by 68-53 and secured a sensational victory.

Following the triumph, Saengkham will now take on Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan downs Marco Fu to capture Hong Kong Masters title

HONG KONG: World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan held off home favourite Marco Fu 6-4 to lift the Hong Kong Masters 2022 title in front of a world record audience of 9,000 fans on Sunday.

In an epic final between the two players, the English cueist O’Sullivan emerged victorious as he sealed a comprehensive 6-4 victory over Fu in the Best of 11.

O’Sullivan pulled ahead with an early 1-0 lead over Fu as he sealed the opening frame by crafting a magnificent 52 without conceding a point.

Fu, on the other hand, was quick to respond and he did so in a similar fashion as he made a break of 55 on his way to claim a frame while barring O’Sullivan from troubling the scoreboard and drawing level at 1-1.

O’Sullivan then anted his level up and sealed the next two frames. Breaks of 71 and 59 saw the world champion surging to an ominous 3-1 lead at the mid-session.

Fu had a chance among the balls, but a botched plant allowed O’Sullivan to step up and extend his lead to three.

The home crowd then found a moment to cherish in the sixth frame as Fu fired in a fine break of 98 to make it 4-2.

Fu then failed to carry on the momentum from that break and missed a cut back red; allowing O’Sullivan to punish as the latter pounced with 105 to move a frame within the victory at 5-2.

The home favourite then kept his hopes alive with a gutsy clearance of 35 after O’Sullivan missed pink on the yellow pocket. The three-time ranking event winner, as a result, took the ninth to make it 5-4.

O’Sullivan produced his best snooker just when needed, denying Fu a decisive frame with a remarkable century run of 114 to win 6-4.

It is pertinent to mention that this is O’Sullivan’s first title on the World Snooker Tour (WST) since sealing a historic record-equalling seventh World Championship crown at the end of last season.

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‘I didn’t come to equal Hendry’s record but to play Snooker’ O’Sullivan

SHEFFIELD: The seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed that he did not come to Crucible to equal Stephen Hendry’s record but to play the snooker.

The newly crowned world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, who equalled Hendry’s record of seven world championships following his 18-13 victory against Judd Trump in the final of the World Snooker Championship 2022, claimed he did not think about equalling Hendry’s record.

“I didn’t really feel like the favourite to win. I doubted myself a little bit, so to finally get a result like I did is special,” O’Sullivan said.

“Honestly, it [the record] has never been something on my mind. I didn’t come here to equal Stephen Hendry’s record, I came here to play snooker and to be honest I found it very, very tough,” he added.

2001. 2004. 2008. 2012. 2013. 2020. 2022. Ronnie O'Sullivan is a seven-time champion of the world!

📺💻📱 @BBCSport, @Eurosport & @DiscoveryPlus #ilovesnooker | @Betfred pic.twitter.com/enDYbVSFcY

— WST (@WeAreWST) May 2, 2022

O’Sullivan also shared the story behind his emotional moment with Trump after securing his seventh world title, saying the latter said some words which made me realize what this meant to him.

“I’ve grown up with Judd, we’ve shared a lot of time on the practice tables so to hear the words he said to me afterwards, I didn’t realise what that meant to him. It was nice to hear I was part of his development and it was a special moment – he choked me up,” he shared.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Englishman O’Sullivan, with his triumph in the recently concluded World Snooker Championship 2022, has finally managed to level with his childhood hero Hendry, who won his seventh world title in 1999.

The 46-years-old also produced more century breaks than any other in World Championships history.

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O’Sullivan becomes seven-time World Champion, levels Hendry’s record

SHEFFIELD: The English cueist Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated his countrymate, Judd Trump, 18-13 in the final of the World Snooker Championship to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of most championships triumphs, here on Monday.

In an eventful final between the two Englishmen, the veteran O’Sullivan emerged victorious as he defeated Trump by 18-13 in the Best of 35.

With his seven championship triumph, O’Sullivan has finally managed to level with his childhood hero Hendry, who won his seventh world title in 1999.

O’Sullivan, despite having a seven-frame overnight lead over Trump 12-5, found it hard to make it an easy win as the latter marked an exceptional comeback by winning six of the Monday afternoon’s eight frames and cut the gap to 14-11.

The veteran, however, did not panic and won three out of the next four frames to go within one frame. Following this, Trump glimmered with a ray of hope as he responded with an astonishing 151 points’ clearance.

The second-ranked cueist, however, remained unable to carry the momentum as O’Sullivan cleared the 31st frame by 93-0 to claim his career-defining victory.

In the final, Trump scored four centuries, while O’Sullivan five. The latter scored the best break of the match (120), which came in the second frame.

It is pertinent to mention here that O’Sullivan has now won 39 ranking titles, held nearly every major record in the game, and will now end the season as the top-ranked player in the world.

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Ronnie thumps Higgins to secure World Snooker Championship final berth

SHEFFIELD: The six-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated the four-time champion, John Higgins, in the semi-final of the ongoing World Snooker Championship, here on Saturday.

In an epic semi-final between the two players from the Class of 92′, the English cueist Ronnie emerged victorious as he sealed a comprehensive 17-11 victory over Higgins in the Best of 33.

The eventful second semi-final rolled into action with Higgins taking off flamboyantly with a three frames advantage. Ronnie, on the other hand, was quick to respond as he soon levelled the scores at 3-3 after the first six frames including a century in the sixth.

Higgins took the lead in the seventh frame, but Ronnie came back to tie the game and then went on to lead 5-4 after sinking back-to-back centuries.

The see-saw battle between the two veterans continued as they were both tied up 6-6 after 12 frames. The English potter then pulled ahead 10-6 by claiming four consecutive frames and pushed Higgins on the backfoot.

For the next six games, the two cueists engaged in another tug of war, each winning three frames to bring the score to 13-9. Ronnie converted his century in the 19th frame into a hat-trick as he captured a couple of more frames to go within two frames of clinching the match.

With Ronnie just two frames shy of winning, Higgins attempted to retaliate as he claimed the 25th frame but only for the Rocket to claim the next one and go within one frame. The next two frames followed the same procedure and Ronnie beat Higgins 17-11 to advance to his eighth Crucible final.

The 46-years-old is now just one win away from levelling the record of Stephen Hendy for winning the most World Championship – seven.

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Ronnie crushes Maguire, reaches World Snooker Championship semis

SHEFFIELD: Former world champion and the current fourth-ranked cueist Ronnie O’Sullivan has outclassed his Scottish counterpart Stephen Maguire 13-5 to book his spot in the semi-finals of the ongoing World Snooker Championship.

The six-times champion Ronnie, who faced Scotland’s Maguire in the quarterfinals, defeated the latter by 13-5 in the Best of 25.

Maguire ranked 24th, started the proceedings with a first frame victory but could not continue as Ronnie responded quickly and won the next six frames to attain an early and decent lead of 6-1.

The Scottish cueist, on the other, did not hold back and bounced back by winning three consecutive frames to cut the margin to 6-4 but only for Ronnie to restore and even extend his lead to 11-4 by winning five frames in a row.

In the 16th frame of the match, Maguire showed last signs of resistance, claiming his fifth and last frame victory of the match as Ronnie then soon won the next two frames to secure a comfortable victory over Maguire 13-4.

With his victory over Maguire, Ronnie has set the world record for most semi-final appearances in World Snooker Championship (13). He also has the chance of levelling Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles if he can lift the trophy on Monday.

✅ Record quarter-finalist (20)
✅ Record semi-finalist (13)

Making history one win at a time.@ronnieo147 | @Betfred | #ilovesnooker pic.twitter.com/hbOaJ17ujs

— WST (@WeAreWST) April 27, 2022

The English cueist will now face either John Higgins or Jack Lisowski in the semi-final of the championship.

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Ronnie crushes Allen, advances to World Snooker Championship quarters

SHEFFIELD: English Snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan secured a crushing second-round victory as the fourth-ranked cueist thumped the 13th-ranked Mark Allen to book his spot in the quarter-finals of the ongoing World Snooker Championship.

In the second-round fixture, Ronnie thrashed Allen by the scores of 13-4 in the Best of 25 to book a quarterfinal berth in the ongoing tournament.

The first two frames of the match, promised a thriller as Ronnie pulled ahead by winning the first frame and Allen responded with a century in the second to cut the former’s early lead.

Ronnie then showed his class and secured five consecutive frames to attain an early and massive lead over Allen 6-1.

Allen then again looked to bounce back as the Irish cueist claimed the next two frames to cut the margin to 6-3 only for Ronnie to restore and even extend his lead to 10-3 by winning the next four frames.

Allen’s last ray of hope glimmered in the 14th frame as he scored a brilliant century to secure his fourth frame of the game, while Ronnie winning back to back three frames denied any chance of the former’s comeback and the English veteran secured a comprehensive 13-4 victory.

Both the cueists scored two centuries each in the second-round match. Ronnie scored the best break of match 131, which came in the third frame.

In another second-round fixture, Stephen Maguire defeated Zhao Xingtong by 13-9 to make it to the last eight of the tournament.

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