Ronnie O’Sullivan isn’t done with breaking records, is he? The veteran player has equaled a record set by the heralded Stephen Hendry, after reaching his 19th World championship quarter-final after knocking Ding Junhui out with a 13-10 win.
The Rocket was on fire throughout the game, hitting a century of 117 and dictating the pace of the game in a fiercely-contested encounter. He is now set to lock horns with Mark Williams in the last-eight of the World championship. Although Ronnie dictated the pace of the game and whatnot, Ding Junhui matched the veteran in every way.
After 16 frames, the game was tied at 8-8 and looked set to go down to the wire. The Rocket came out tops in the next two frames, taking a 10-8 lead only for his strong Asian contender to reply with a break of 88.
However, in the 20th frame, Ronnie took the game by the scruff of its neck and took the decisive edge. The legendary player took advantage of an error from Junhui and published the latter dearly for it. With this win, he opened up a two-frame lead and looked the likeliest to get the win.
Junhui did get a chance to make corrections to the error only to squander it. The Rocket turned the game on its head, pulling off a clearance of 93 and running away with the win. It was a fine game for Ronnie but a tough one nonetheless.
O’Sullivan will be relishing in the thoughts of equaling another record set by Hendry several years ago. It wasn’t a record served to him on a silver platter, but he’d take it regardless.
Earlier in the fay, Neil Robertson took out Barry Hawkins to book a date in the last-eight of the World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Contrary to what the score line might suggest, it was a tough game. Just like Ronnie, Robertson was tied at 8-8 in the 16th frame. However, the 2010 champion showed his hunger and intent for a last-eight position with a 17th frame break of 59 before coming out tops in the 18th frame as well.
Robertson once again claimed the 19th frame before Hawkins quickly pulled back one in the most remarkable way possible – a century. However, it was just too late to redeem himself.
Written by: Roland Arum
