At 21:00 Beijing time on January 11, 2022, the fifth match of the first round of the Masters will officially begin, and "Rocket" Ronnie O'Sullivan will face Lisovsky to open the offensive firepower of the showdown. In terms of objective strength, O'Sullivan is obviously better, and his current mentality can also help him better cope with the challenges of the game. Lissovsky's condition is not so good, he was not only defeated by Zhao Xintong in the British Championship, he also had a continuous power outage in the season. In fact, Lissovsky is still struggling to compete fiercely with the top players.
O'Sullivan has the upper hand-to-hand record
In O'Sullivan's record of playing against Lisovsky, the two men have met in total, and O'Sullivan won 100% of the three games. Of the three games, two were for the grab of the sixth and the other for the grab of the fifth. So objectively speaking, O'Sullivan's advantage in the first round of the Masters is already very obvious. Because Lisovsky never won O'Sullivan, he didn't have any advantage in the sixth game. But objectively speaking, having an advantage does not determine the outcome, because the competitive state is the more important factor that determines the outcome of the game.
Lissovsky is likely to be eliminated in the first round
Judging from the competitive status and performance of the two players, Lisovsky is still a player with a high probability of being eliminated. This season, O'Sullivan has not only beaten Robertson to win the championship, but also to top the list of the fastest players. Don't look at O'Sullivan's competitive form has declined, but as long as he does not face the top players who are not in the best competitive form, he will still be the more dominant side. In terms of comprehensive strength, O'Sullivan is obviously more balanced, and his offensive and defensive capabilities are among the best in the world. Lissovsky's attack may be relatively advanced, but his defensive level can really only be the bottom of the world's top players. Mentally, Lisovsky has no advantage, after all, he will face O'Sullivan, and the player will not give him a chance to breathe.
O'Sullivan is expected to successfully reach the quarter-finals
Facing Lisovsky is definitely good news for O'Sullivan, because Lissovsky doesn't seem to have any shining points besides attacking well. His level of defense was a fatal obstacle that prevented him from going any further, and even today, Lissovsky's defense has not improved much. In terms of consecutive scores, Lisovsky also can't keep up well, because he often makes fatal mistakes on key balls because he hits the ball too fast. This is a big blow to the player's competitiveness and confidence in the game, and if Lissovsky continues to play like this, his future path is bound to not be very broad, because his ability is too limited. Although O'Sullivan is also an offensive player, his performance on the defensive end is also in the top four of history. At his peak, his defensive level can completely suppress Mark Williams and compete with Higgins. But such players are almost non-existent in the current world stage, so it is very difficult for Lisovsky to beat O'Sullivan at the moment. As long as O'Sullivan takes the game seriously, then he has a great chance of winning the game. Or even if O'Sullivan is not in very good shape, as long as he can restrain Lissovsky through defense, it will not be difficult for him to complete the promotion. So the key to winning or losing is how O'Sullivan treats the game, and if he doesn't want to win, then no one can do anything about it.