In the early morning of February 27, Beijing time, Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated China's Liang Wenbo 6-2 in the semifinals of the 2022 Snooker European Masters to reach the 60th professional ranking final and will attack the 39th ranking champion on Sunday.
In Sunday's final, O'Sullivan was 25 years older than Chinese teenager Fan Zhengyi and ranked 78th higher. If he wins, O'Sullivan will continue to lead the all-time overall list for the second time this season since last December's World Grand Prix. The final will also be O'Sullivan's 60th ranking final, spanning 29 years since the 1993 British Championship. O'Sullivan hasn't played against the world's top 25 players since this week, but still played super high quality in the game – six games with a 9-shot break and an 18-50+.
In the semifinals, O'Sullivan scored a single 50, 81, 72, 60, 127 and 109 consecutive attacks, and Liang Wenbo still had only one victory after more than 10 encounters.
"I'd be very happy if Liang Wenbo could win, and I know how much he's contributed to the sport." O'Sullivan said after the race, "I know how much he loves the sport, I am close to him and want him to have good results and enjoy life as much as possible." ”
"If he's happy to win the race, it will make me happy too." He can make me laugh, and to Snooker he is full of personality, pure in heart and beautiful in soul. But the game had to get the job done, the crowd was packed to watch our game, and I had to give it my all. ”
"Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo have done a lot at the grassroots level of China's snooker, and they have a great academy on the British side. They're going to take over and rule the sport, it's all happening, and I think in 10 years snooker will be like table tennis and every snooker player will come from Asia. I love China, their culture, their people, they were very nice to me when I went there. I try to support their players, cute boys. I want to pass on some of my knowledge and experience to them because I'm also a snooker fan and want to see them play well. ”
"I don't have any illusions, I'm not as dominant as I used to be. I can still score points when I'm in good shape, I'm not easy to deal with, I'm just not as stable as before. I'll make some mistakes from time to time and won't go back to the way it was, never. But I enjoy playing ball and enjoying this lifestyle. If I could win 3 more world championships, it would be great, and then I would lower my participation level, do some performances, open some academies in China, and participate in snooker in this way. ”
The 19-inning, 10-win final will be played on Sunday, with the first eight innings played at 9:00 p.m. Beijing time and the second stage at 3:00 a.m. the next day until the birth of the champion.