On April 27, 2022, Beijing time, the Snooker World Championship entered the 12th matchday, the first four seats were officially released, O'Sullivan eliminated Stephen Maguire 13-5, and advanced to the world championship final four for the 13th time, surpassing Hendry's 12 times, ranking first in history. At the same time, with Stephen Maguire out, the qualifiers of this World Championship were all wiped out, and the collective missed the final four.
The 46-year-old O'Sullivan is still continuing his career and has always been in good competitive shape, he has snatched a lot of records from Hendry, but his most important record should be the seventh World Championship title, if successfully won, he can catch up with Hendry and add the most important weight to his battle for the best in history. For now, O'Sullivan has the opportunity to achieve this goal at this World Championship.
In addition to maintaining good competitive form, his signing luck is also very good, eliminating David Gilbert and Mark Allen in the first two rounds, and almost no challenges. The opponent in the quarter-finals is Stephen Maguire, the only qualifier in the quarterfinals, who eliminated Zhao Xintong, has confidence in himself, and wants to face O'Sullivan through the tactics of a steady counterattack, but unfortunately his feel is too bad.
In the first stage, O'Sullivan was in average form, there were many mistakes, and it can be said that he gave Stephen Maguire a lot of opportunities, but Maguire failed to seize the opportunity, but lost 2-6, and was left behind by O'Sullivan at the beginning. By the second stage, O'Sullivan's form had improved significantly, and although Stephen Maguire could score consecutive points, he was helpless to fall behind 5-11.
The quarter-finals have basically lost suspense, and O'Sullivan only needs to win two more sets to advance to the final four. Entering the third stage, Stephen Maguire was a bit heartless, and after the opening, he sent consecutive mistakes, and O'Sullivan was in excellent offensive form, shooting 71 and 126 consecutive singles, winning two consecutive sets, eliminating Stephen Maguire 13-5 to advance to the final four.
This is O'Sullivan's 13th time to reach the final four of the World Championships, surpassing Hendry's 12 times and ranking first in history alone, and it can be said that O'Sullivan has set a new career record. In the following semi-finals, O'Sullivan's opponent is the winner between Lisovsky and Higgins, and no matter who he faces, I believe O'Sullivan will give his all, because he is getting closer and closer to the final and the championship.
In addition, with Stephen Maguire out, the qualifiers of this World Championship are all wiped out, stephen Maguire, who has fallen out of the top 16, has eliminated Sean Murphy and Zhao Xintong in succession, and should be more satisfied with his performance, if he can take out his performance in the first two rounds next season, he will have the opportunity to return to the top 16 next season, thus obtaining the seeding seat in the three major competitions!