Ronnie O’Sullivan roars into last eight with thumping win over Jack Lisowski at Masters 2022

Updated 11/01/2022 at 16:16 GMT

“I forgot what it was like to play in front of a crowd – let alone a crowd like this. I was feeling the pressure, but after the second frame I calmed down a bit,” said Ronnie O’Sullivan after completing the 6-1 win. The Rocket will face Neil Robertson in the last eight on Thursday afternoon, with the winner set to meet either John Higgins or Mark Williams.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan leaked just one frame as he dismantled Jack Lisowski to reach the Masters quarter-finals at a raucous Alexandra Palace.

Once the Rocket got control of the contest, the seven-time champion never looked back as he set up a showdown with Neil Robertson with a 6-1 triumph.

“I struggled early on, I was so nervous. Really, really nervous,” O’Sullivan admitted.

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“I forgot what it was like to play in front of a crowd – let alone a crowd like this. I was feeling the pressure, but after the second frame I calmed down a bit.”

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Both players made elementary errors as they shared the opening two frames, although Lisowski looked the sharper after drawing level with a century – even if grin turned to grimace when he blew the chance to complete a total clearance of 138, instead settling for 104.

O’Sullivan began the third frame with a delightful red to roars from the crowd, followed swiftly by a tidy plant, but could only get to 14 before finding the jaws. However Lisowski soon missed again and the Rocket made no mistake this time, tickling home another half-century to regain the lead.

For all his impressive pots, O’Sullivan could not eliminate the errors from his game. Still, a break of 63 saw him head to the interval with a 3-1 lead and he returned a different figure entirely.

Breaks of 127, 64 and 125 sealed his passage, completing the victory with a total clearance excluding the final black, which he passed up. Had he attempted and sunk the final colour, it would have surpassed the highest break of the tournament – currently Zhao Xintong’s 128 – and put him on course for the £15,000 prize.

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For Lisowski, it was another case of what might have been. He appeared to have forced his way back into the match in the sixth frame when, at 4-1 down, he brought five reds back into play off the cushions. But a lapse in concentration saw him miss the final red and it was not long before O’Sullivan swooped in to take the frame and, shortly afterwards, the match.