By Elliott West
“It’s such a big crowd, we’ve been playing behind closed doors for so long I forgot what it was like to play in front of a crowd, let alone a crowd like this full of mad Londoners”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Ronnie O’Sullivan had been having a flat season prior to his victory at last year’s Grand Prix. I say flat precisely because, despite the high expectations, he wasn’t able to get over the winning line in five finals. Some in the industry had been writing off his chances of winning another title and when he played Neil Robertson in the final of the Grand Prix, it looked like the Australian would get the better of his opponent. However, Ronnie dug deep and produced a 10-8 victory that was crucial, coming at the end of the year and laying the foundations for his comeback trail.
Mastering the Masters
The pressure for Ronnie to perform well in front of a London audience is always immense. His fan base is so big that some have a blinkered view that he is the only person in snooker. Playing to a crowd where the opponent is always the underdog must be an added pressure for any player and in his first match, Ronnie’s counterpart was Jack Lisowski. Jack, a cut from the Judd Trump cloth, is someone that people have been talking about for a while. Someone who can’t quite cut the mustard but maybe he had a chance on this occasion?
This clash didn’t do Jack justice. He never really got going. In a match where Ronnie said he struggled early on and was nervous, Lisowski only managed to capture the second frame with a 108 break. A miss in the third frame on a routine green led to an 86 clearance by his opponent and set a downward spiral for Jack as he was literally swept away by the Ronnie roadshow. It was play that delighted the partisan crowd, producing the same cries for their man.
2-1 then became 3-1 thanks to a 63 break by Ronnie before the interval. Returning to the table after the mid-session interval, O’Sullivan kicked on, producing a total clearance of 127 and further contributions of 64 and 125.
A seismic 6-1 victory even sort of pleased the mercurial Ronnie who is always ultra-critical of his performance. He now books a quarter-final place and looks the strongest of the contenders, aside from Mark Selby who booked his place in the evening match against Stephen Maguire, winning 6-3 and the blistering performance of Mark Williams in his opening match against Yan Bingtao.
Afterthought
Whether Ronnie will be able to keep the momentum until the end of the Masters is harder to predict. Several years ago, it was almost a done deal but he is 46 now and unfortunately, the age factor can spoil even the greatest player’s game. He is a lot better now at controlling his nerves and certainly doesn’t have the match meltdowns, he used to have in yesteryears. So the script shows an eighth Masters crown but will the script be ripped up or updated? time will tell.
