On February 25, 2022, Beijing time, the snooker European Masters ended the fourth matchday competition, and the 46-year-old O'Sullivan received continuous good news. The first is that he is getting better and better, having won four consecutive games and advanced to the quarterfinals. The second is that the main competitors have been out, O'Sullivan's hopes of winning the championship have increased greatly, and if he can win the championship in this game, O'Sullivan will return to the world first.
O'Sullivan is 46 years old, but he still maintains a strong competitiveness and is a big favorite to win the championship as long as he participates. In this European Masters, O'Sullivan started from the qualifiers and defeated Bond, Zhang Anda, Wu Yize and Ashley Hegel in a row. The opponents are average, and O'Sullivan's performance in the first three games is also more average, with many mistakes, which is obviously not the best O'Sullivan.
However, in the third round of the regular round against Ashley Hegel, O'Sullivan showed a good upward momentum, and he scored a single 141 points from the beginning, which was the highest single score in the main game. O'Sullivan then scored another 96, 62, 105, 52 and 58 points, and he overpowered his opponents and won easily 5-2. Compared to the previous games, O'Sullivan's competitive form is indeed better.
In addition, this competition has been a big cold, O'Sullivan's main opponent has been out of the game. Judging by the signing table, O'Sullivan is in the bottom half, and potential opponents include Lissovsky, Ali Carter and John Higgins. As a result, both Lisovsky and Ali Carter were eliminated by Ashley Hegel, and Higgins was swept by Tom Ford. In the end, O'Sullivan's opponent in the quarter-finals became Tom Ford.
Even more surprising is that Sean Murphy and Trump, who are also in the bottom half, are also out of the cold, and there are only two seeded players left in the bottom half, in addition to O'Sullivan, and Anthony McGill. Obviously, O'Sullivan is a big favourite in the lower half of the zone, and no matter who he faces, O'Sullivan has great hopes of winning.
The first half of the district is also unpopular, Selby, Neil Robertson, Yan Bingtao and other champions have been out, and there are no world top 16 players in the upper half to advance to the quarterfinals. Therefore, many fans say that O'Sullivan has won the championship steadily. Once O'Sullivan wins the European Masters, he will receive a championship prize of 80,000 pounds, thus surpassing Selby and returning to the throne of the world number one.
It's hard to imagine O'Sullivan returning to world number one at the age of 46, but the opportunity is at hand, and I believe O'Sullivan will not easily miss it!