On May 3, Beijing time, the 2022 Snooker World Championship came to an end, the No. 2 seed Ronnie O'Sullivan, in the first three stages of the big score 14-11 lead, with 4 strokes 70+ to win 4 more sets, and finally defeated the No. 4 seed Judd Trump 18-13 to win the World Championship for the 7th time.
This is the eighth time in his career that O'Sullivan has reached the final of the World Championships in his career since 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2020. In the first 7 times, he only lost to mark Selby, the "grinding king" who was in the sky at the time, and won all six other times, showing amazing efficiency.
Before the Start of the World Championships, O'Sullivan was unabashed to say that winning the title was becoming more and more difficult for him. The Rockets say success is becoming increasingly difficult because after such a huge success in the sport, "you're carrying that label" while other players are desperate to win a famous victory.
At the World Championships, O'Sullivan is currently the world's number one. After the Tour Championship, he overtook Mark Selby to reach the top of the world for the fifth time in his career and for the first time since 2019. At this World Championship, he will once again attack the 7th World Championship title of Stephen Hendry, the "Emperor of Billiards". But whether or not he can tie Hendry, O'Sullivan, 46, is reluctant to judge himself as the best player in the sport's history.
O'Sullivan became a professional in 1992 and before the start of the World Championships, he had won six World Championships, seven Masters titles and seven British Championship titles. Hendry won seven World Championships, six Masters and five British Championships, while Davis won six World Championships, three Masters and six British Championships.
Here's a look back at O'Sullivan's trip to the World Championships:
In the first round, O'Sullivan played against David Gilbert, and O'Sullivan, with a 2-100 and a 3-50+, won 6 consecutive sets and surpassed David Gilbert 6-3. Although he lost two consecutive sets in the second stage, O'Sullivan then won four more consecutive sets and scored his 1157th career goal to beat David Gilbert 10-5 to reach the round of 16 of the World Championship for the 26th time and equal Hendry's Crucible 70-game winning record.
In the second round, O'Sullivan played against Mark Allen. O'Sullivan hit a five-game whiplash with a 1-100 and a 4-stroke 50+ to end the first stage of the tournament with a 6-2 lead over Mark Allen. O'Sullivan shot another 1 hundred and 4 50+ in the second stage to take a 12-4 lead over Mark Allen and get match points.
After only one set in the third stage, O'Sullivan successfully defeated Mark Allen 13-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the World Championships, which was also his 20th time to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championships, surpassing the record of "Emperor of Billiards" Stephen Hendry's 19 round-of-eight and the record of 70 wins in Crucible.
In the quarter-finals, O'Sullivan played against Stephen Maguire, the only non-seeded player in the round of 8, and O'Sullivan won six consecutive sets with a 1-100 and a 2-shot 50+ after losing the first set, and finally led Stephen Maguire 6-2 to end the first stage. In the second stage, after losing two sets first, with a 5-stroke 50+, he won five consecutive sets to finally lead Stephen Maguire 11-5, ending the second stage, O'Sullivan was only 2 sets away from advancing to the round of 4.
After a two-game winning streak, O'Sullivan beat Stephen Maguire 13-5 to reach the Crucible Quarterfinals for the 13th time, surpassing "Emperor of Billiards" Stephen Hendry 12 times.
In the semi-finals, O'Sullivan played against No. 6 seed John Higgins, the pair's 77th "Theo". Higgins started with a 2-50+ and a 3-0 lead, but O'Sullivan then chased 3 innings with 1 hundred and 2 50+, making it 3-3. After that, the two sides won another set, and finally the big score was 4-4 to end the first stage.
In the second stage, O'Sullivan won five consecutive sets when he was 5-6 behind in the big score with a 50+ and beat John Higgins 10-6 to end the second stage. In the third stage, O'Sullivan shot a 3-shot 100 and a 2-shot 50+ to win three consecutive sets after the big score of 12-9, leading John Higgins 15-9 to end the third stage, just two sets away from the final. In the fourth stage, he won the key 2 sets with 2 strokes of 60+, and finally defeated John Higgins 17-11 to reach the world championship final for the eighth time in his career, and the seventh crown of the individual world championship.
In the final, O'Sullivan competed for the title against no. 4 seed Judd Trump. If he can win the championship this time, he will equal the record of 7 World Championships held by "Billiards Emperor" Stephen Hendry since 1999, and will also raise the number of his "three majors" to 7 (now the British Championship and the Masters are 7, only the World Championship is still 6), and the total of 21 will continue to break the record of the total number of "three majors" champions held by himself.
In addition, this is also the 61st time that O'Sullivan has reached the ranking final, and he has won 38 ranking championships, if he wins, it is the 39th, and will also further widen the gap between him and Hendry (36) in the ranking history championship list, consolidating the top position. In addition, the 46-year-old Rockets will be the oldest finalist in Crucible in 40 years since the 49-year-old Ray Lilton in 1982. Since Lilton lost to Alex Higgins that year and failed to win the title, if O'Sullivan finally wins the cup, he will become the oldest champion in the World Championships so far.
Commenting on the prospects of a seven-time World Championship, O'Sullivan said: "I'm not focused on the championship, what I've won and what I haven't won yet. It's more about gaining experience and enjoying the game. When I won this title in 2020, it didn't change my life. Even if I win it again, I'm not sure I'll feel elated. However, it will still feel good to get it. ”
The final was on the verge of breaking, O'Sullivan lost the first set, with 2 shots to break the hundred and 1 shot 60+, winning 5 consecutive sets, the big score 5-1. Trump then shot a 90+ and won two innings in a row to end the first stage with a big score of 3-5. O'Sullivan again scored a 1-100 and a 6-50+ in the second stage, first losing one set and then winning two more sets after the opponent chased back one set, and finally taking a 12-5 lead over Judd Trump.
Playing poorly in the third stage, O'Sullivan won two sets with only 2 par 50+ to lead Judd Trump, who shot a 2-100 and a 50+ in this stage, 14-11. In the fourth stage, O'Sullivan blasted out four 70+ to win four more sets, and although he missed 1 match point, he still beat Judd Trump 18-13 to win the World Championship for the seventh time.
Today, the seventh World Championship title has allowed O'Sullivan to break a series of records: this is O'Sullivan's 74th victory in Crucible, after surpassing the "Emperor of Billiards" Stephen Hendry's 70 wins, he has set his latest record; at the same time, he has equaled the record of seven World Championships held by Hendry since 1999, and also raised his "three majors" (World Championship, British Championship and Masters) to seven, which is unprecedented "Seven Grand Slams". The total of 21 also continued to break the record for the total number of "three major competitions" held by himself.
Although he failed to shoot a 4th 100th in the final and failed to equal the single-shot 100-100 record (16) currently held by Mark Williams and Hendry, he still broke the 15-stroke 100 record for a single-time World Championship, and also allowed him to continue to be the first in the all-time single-shot 100 list with 1169, leaving second-ranked John Higgins (897) 272. Meanwhile, he has scored a total of 62 to break the 100 this season, surpassing Neil Robertson (61) and becoming the person who has played the most single 100 this season.
The title allowed O'Sullivan to break a series of records, and even the world snooker official website said bluntly: "By equalizing the record of 7 crowns set by Stephen Hendry at Sheffield in 1999, O'Sullivan has quelled all the debate about the number one in the history of the sport." The 'Rockets' have now beaten or tied almost all of Hendry's most important records. ”
After winning the match, the 46-year-old O'Sullivan burst into tears and even cried with his opponent Trump. Even when sitting on the sidelines, we can clearly see his wet eyes.
For this series of records, "Rocket" admitted: "I have never cared much about records. Don't get me wrong, it's really good when I do it, but in the pursuit of this, I can never perform well. I just enjoy the game, the competition and the arena, I enjoy what I do, I train my skills and then let the god of snooker decide what he has to decide – he's on my side for 17 days. ”
After the game, Trump said: "I would like to warmly congratulate Ronnie, I am very happy to play on the same table as him. He has been very good to me throughout my career. When I was younger, he practiced with me and I tried to learn from him. He's got amazing results, he's the greatest player of all time. It's an amazing achievement for him and Snooker, and it's really only a matter of time before he achieves 7 titles before he does. He's been focused on that for the last 30 years and I wouldn't be surprised if he would now continue to play and break that record (becoming an 8-crown winner). ”
Hendry, one of O'Sullivan's consecutive record-breaking parties, said after the game: "He (O'Sullivan) deserves this victory. As I talked about in the commentary, he took the snooker movement to new heights. In fact, I was surprised that it took him so long to win 7 championships, he was so good. When I got the 6th crown and tied with Steve (Davis), I still wanted to get the 7th. So, assuming Ronnie would do the same and want to win the 8th crown, then, I'm sure, he won't be satisfied until he's done. "Finally, congratulations O'Sullivan!