Ronnie O’Sullivan’s 4-0 victory over John Higgins at the World Masters of Snooker ended at about 3am local time in Riyadh, and the Rocket faulted his old rival Mark Selby for the late finish.
It was a long day in Saudi Arabia, with the four quarter-final matches played and two of them producing a lot of excitement, particularly Selby’s 4-3 defeat to Mark Allen.
It was the first match of the day and lasted almost three-and-a-half hours, with Allen coming from 3-1 down to win it on the final black after an intense final frame.
It was a captivating match to watch and extremely intense at the end, but it was quite long, and meant it was a late start for the matches to come.
Luca Brecel defeated Ali Carter 4-1, then Judd Trump needed a deciding frame to defeat Shaun Murphy 4-3 in a great competition, with O’Sullivan and Higgins beginning their match shortly before 2am local time.
The Rocket was in superb form, making breaks of 135, 129, 102, and 82 to completely defeat the four-time world champion.
Asked about the late finish afterwards, the world number one said: ‘It’s Selby! I call him Midnight Selby because his games go past midnight every game. It’s a nightmare! You don’t want to be following Mark because you’re going into the next day.’
Before his match, O’Sullivan added: ‘I’ve not really watched any of it, I’ve just been relaxing. You’ve got all the top players playing against each other so you’re always going to get good games.
‘Unless it’s Mark and Mark today, it was a bit of a drag. even Mark Allen went, “That was tough!”‘
In fairness to Selby, it took two to tango in that lengthy contest, with the Pistol and the Jester bringing out the grinder in each other to some extent, just as they did at the World Championship last year.
Although it was Selby who saw his average shot time finish at 29.7 seconds, compared to Allen’s 25.5.
O’Sullivan may have won four tournaments this season so far, including the UK Championship and Masters, but he insists he has been playing badly for two years.
That has started to change, though, and even the Rocket could not deny that it was a top showing from him against Higgins.
‘It was alright, I felt quite comfortable over the shot, first time in a while. I’ve been feeling okay in practice the last couple of weeks,’ he said.
‘Two years of absolute filth, I’m just starting to feel alright again, it’s been a long time.
‘That’s the worst part about my job, having to play, I love all the other bits. Getting away, getting to the gym, eating good food, relaxing and watching Netflix.
‘When I’m playing alright I don’t mind, but when you’re playing absolute filth, it’s embarrassing sometimes.’
Wednesday is the final day of the World Masters of Snooker, with Brecel facing off against Allen in the first semi-final at 2pm UK time, followed by Trump playing O’Sullivan and the two winners meeting in the final at 7pm.
The winner will receive £250,000, while the semi-finalists are guaranteed £75,000 and the runner-up will take £125,000.
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