Players Championship Snoooker 2022 - Dazzling Ronnie O’Sullivan crushes Judd Trump to reach last eight
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 08/02/2022 at 22:02 GMT
The one-year ranking system threw Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump together in the first round of the Players Championship. The pair are normally seen contesting finals, and the play on show at the Aldersley Village in Wolverhampton on Tuesday evening was worthy of a final. Trump played well but was no match for O'Sullivan.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
Image credit: Getty Images
Ronnie O’Sullivan produced arguably his best performance of the season to beat Judd Trump 6-3 and book his place in the last eight of the Players Championship.
O'Sullivan had the incentive of knowing a win this week would propel him back to the top of the world rankings, and he was fully focused in Wolverhampton.
Trump did not play badly, but he had no answer as O’Sullivan seized on any semblance of a mistake to power into the quarter-finals where he will meet Neil Robertson.
It was a surprise that a contest featuring two of the heaviest scorers in the game kicked off with a six-minute safety exchange.
An error from Trump handed a chance to O’Sullivan, and he deftly knocked a red into right middle before falling perfectly on the blue.
O’Sullivan was seen working hard in the practice room on Monday, suggesting he was well focused. And a glorious break of 90 reinforced that view.
Trump had to watch O’Sullivan race through the opener from his chair, but he showed his cueing arm was in good order with an excellent red at the start of the second. A break of 53 did not kill off the frame at the first time of asking, but he got in again a short while later to level.
The potting clinic continued in the third, as Trump got in with a long red and rolled a superb pot to left middle. He ran out of position on 52, and headed for cover in the baulk area. His safety offered O’Sullivan a shot at a plant, which he executed to perfection to set up a frame-winning counter of 83.
O’Sullivan has been active on social media talking positively about recent exhibition events; the fourth frame had some shots that are normally confined to exhibitions. A stunning red into the yellow pocket got him in, and he had the cue ball zipping around the table as he raced through a break of 99 to move ahead at the interval.
Trump did little wrong before the interval, and reinforced the view that he too was in good form as a break of 73 was enough to secure the fifth frame.
There were collector’s items in the sixth: missed pots. Both passed up chances, but Trump’s proved the most costly as a couple of contributions off the back of errors enabled O’Sullivan to move 4-2 to the good.
Trump hit back to take the seventh, but was fortunate to do so. He broke down on 55, missing a red on the stretch when he would have been wiser taking his time and using the long rest. O’Sullivan countered, but saw the final red wriggle in the jaws of the bottom right and go along the rail and settle over bottom left to allow Trump to clear.
Throughouth the contest, O'Sullivan was seen prowling round the table like a tiger hunting prey. When he came to the table after a Trump miss in the eighth, it looked a tricky puzzle to solve but he picked it apart in supreme style for the 1,134th century of his career.
It was appropriate that a brilliant long red set O’Sullivan on the way to the chequered flag. He came to the table with a lot to do, but calmly picked off a break of 52 before running for cover.
The potting was excellent, but his match play was water-tight as he refused to give Trump a way back in and closed out the match a short while later.
RIcky Walden’s good form continued with a 6-2 win over Mark Allen to set up a meeting with Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.
---
Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement