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Ronnie O’Sullivan takes surprising dig at rival after reaching World Snooker Championship semi-final
Ronnie O’Sullivan took aim at opponent Si Jiahui’s ‘poor’ performance at the World Snooker Championships. The Rocket saw off the Chinese star on Wednesday to book his place in his 14th semi-final at the Crucible. GettyRonnie O’Sullivan booked his place in the semi-finals after overcoming Si Jiahui[/caption] The seven-time world champion held off a fightback from Si to win 13-9 and set up a last-four clash with Zhao Xintong. The 49-year-old held a 10-6 lead after the afternoon session but Si rallied back, taking three of the following four frames to close the gap to 11-9. But O’Sullivan took full advantage of key errors from Si in the final two frames and claimed victory which kept his hopes of winning a record eighth world title intact. After the match, O’Sullivan was critical of his performance while taking aim at his opponent’s mistakes. “He played poor,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport. “He played poor the whole match and let me off the hook loads of times. I got lucky again. He had lots of chances, I was trying everything and he let me off the hook.” The Rocket once again played down his own form as he has done throughout the tournament and revealed he made an important alteration before the quarter-final clash. “I’m just grinding it out,” he added. “I had some work done on my cue today, I am playing awful and my cue feels awful but I am still here. I miss the buzz of playing well. “I have given it my best but I am hanging in there. I would like to be playing better but I have to try and find some form at some point. I don’t feel rusty, I have only been playing for a month but I just couldn’t face playing.” He elaborated further in an interview with TNT Sports: “I’ve butchered more shots in this tournament than I have in years of playing. “I’ve been flapping underneath but trying to remain calm on the inside. I’m playing with absolutely zero confidence. Every player’s been there before, it is what it is. GettyThe Rocket labelled the Chinese star’s performance as ‘poor’[/caption] O’Sullivan admitted he is playing with ‘zero confidence’ You can either cave in or keep punching away and hopefully something comes good. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. History beckons for O’Sullivan should he get through his next two matches. A win over Xintong will see him pair with either world No.1 Judd Trump or Mark Williams in the final. Both players have been in fine form en route to the last four and O’Sullivan knows it will take a superhuman effort to beat Trump if they were to meet in the final. “It gets harder, look at the way Judd is playing,” he said. “I won’t be able to get away with what I have done so far. I can’t get any worse, put it that way.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan took aim at opponent Si Jiahui’s ‘poor’ performance at the World Snooker Championships.
The Rocket saw off the Chinese star on Wednesday to book his place in his 14th semi-final at the Crucible.
The seven-time world champion held off a fightback from Si to win 13-9 and set up a last-four clash with Zhao Xintong.
The 49-year-old held a 10-6 lead after the afternoon session but Si rallied back, taking three of the following four frames to close the gap to 11-9.
But O’Sullivan took full advantage of key errors from Si in the final two frames and claimed victory which kept his hopes of winning a record eighth world title intact.
After the match, O’Sullivan was critical of his performance while taking aim at his opponent’s mistakes.
“He played poor,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport. “He played poor the whole match and let me off the hook loads of times. I got lucky again. He had lots of chances, I was trying everything and he let me off the hook.”
The Rocket once again played down his own form as he has done throughout the tournament and revealed he made an important alteration before the quarter-final clash.
“I’m just grinding it out,” he added. “I had some work done on my cue today, I am playing awful and my cue feels awful but I am still here. I miss the buzz of playing well.
“I have given it my best but I am hanging in there. I would like to be playing better but I have to try and find some form at some point. I don’t feel rusty, I have only been playing for a month but I just couldn’t face playing.”
He elaborated further in an interview with TNT Sports: “I’ve butchered more shots in this tournament than I have in years of playing.
“I’ve been flapping underneath but trying to remain calm on the inside. I’m playing with absolutely zero confidence. Every player’s been there before, it is what it is.
You can either cave in or keep punching away and hopefully something comes good. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.
History beckons for O’Sullivan should he get through his next two matches.
A win over Xintong will see him pair with either world No.1 Judd Trump or Mark Williams in the final.
Both players have been in fine form en route to the last four and O’Sullivan knows it will take a superhuman effort to beat Trump if they were to meet in the final.
“It gets harder, look at the way Judd is playing,” he said. “I won’t be able to get away with what I have done so far. I can’t get any worse, put it that way.”
