In the early morning of March 31, Beijing time, Ronnie O'Sullivan narrowly defeated Mark Williams, who is also a "753ja", in the third quarterfinals of the 2022 Snooker Tour Championship to advance to the final four of the tournament. This game "Rockets" O'Sullivan shot 5 to break the hundred, the excitement is unusual.
Mark Williams was tied in the second set after taking the first set and has never been able to take the lead since. So far, O'Sullivan has continued his record of outtaking Mark Williams in two or more stages of the 22-year head-to-head record. The last time Williams won in a two-stage match was in the 2000 British Championship semi-finals with a 9-4 win over O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan has also maintained a record of all wins in the last 6 ranking matches. The last time Williams beat O'Sullivan in a ranking tournament was at the 2014 International Championship (Chengdu).
O'Sullivan, who advances to the final four, will face Neil Robertson in Friday's opening semi-final — a collision between the winners of the first two "Cazoo" series of the season. O'Sullivan won the Grand Prix last December, while Robertson won last month's Players Championship.
Williams will be preparing for the World Championships with all his might, and his outstanding performances in the second stage will also add confidence to him at Crucible. The Legend from Wales won his 24th ranking title at the British Open earlier this season.
O'Sullivan, who will return to world number one this weekend, ended the first stage with a 5-3 lead. Williams trailed 4-5 on a 103-point break in the late game, but O'Sullivan also fought back with a single shot of 100 points, leading two sets again 6-4. Williams and O'Sullivan then went on to shoot a single 89 and 75 points, respectively, to give the Rockets a 7-5 lead at halftime.
Back on the field, Williams won two straight sets to tie 7 and led 24-0 in the 15th set, but unfortunately missed the powder ball while blowing up the ball pile. O'Sullivan scored 106 points to lead the set again. After Williams tied again, O'Sullivan scored 9-8 with a single shot of 127 points. In the 18th set, the two sides wrestled until the ball was colored, and Williams brilliantly thinned the yellow ball and cleared the table until the pink ball dragged the game into the decider.
In the 19th inning, both players had their hands on the phone, but neither won by a single shot. The two legends wrestled to the last red ball, with Williams missing out on bench reserve O'Sullivan clearing the table until the pink ball sealed the win.
'It was probably the best he (Williams) played against me and the best I played against him.' O'Sullivan, 46, spoke highly of the competition, "For us, it's quite rare to play very well. ”
"I was shocked when someone told me I was going to be number one in the world, a bit like winning the World Championship after a year off. I was shocked that I could do this, and I was surprised to be able to return to world number one at this stage of my career. I'm going to work on being the first pensioner to be among the top 8 in the world, and that's a feat. ”
"I was so excited, it was impossible to calm down. My mentality is that I'm no longer moved by winning or losing, I'm going to do my best and it's very good overall at the moment. I can play in a tournament without thinking about winning or losing, but it's amazing to be able to win and stay competitive. ”