Sports
WORLD number one Ronnie O’Sullivan swept Luca Brecel aside to reach the quarter-finals of the Masters with a 6-1 win at Alexandra Palace.
The ‘Rocket’ made sublime breaks of 53, 97, 134, 104 and ruthlessly capitalised on several errors by the Belgian on his way to victory.
O’Sullivan will face Mark Williams or David Gilbert in the last eight on Thursday.
John Higgins plays Jack Lisowski in Monday’s other first-round match.
“It is not easy to play under pressure and I sensed that Luca felt a little uncomfortable and I tried to make the most of that and punish every mistake he made,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport.
“At 47 you have gained a lot of experience and you have to resort to a lot of that stuff. It is an amazing feeling with 2,000 people here expecting you to play well.
“I’m enjoying every moment. I might say I don’t care but actually there is a very good competitor there. I’ll never lose that so the players can keep expecting me to come back for more. I’m not going anywhere yet.”
Reigning world champion O’Sullivan, who already has a record seven Masters titles, gave an enthusiastic London crowd firmly in his corner plenty to cheer as he opened up by nearly making a century in the first frame.
And the 47-year-old then efficiently tidied up as Brecel gifted him the second and third frames.
A glaring error going from brown to blue cost 27-year-old Brecel the second frame.
Moments late, after a sensational shot with the rest nestled on the cushion to dispatch the green, a loose pot on the blue saw the white fly into the middle pocket and with it his hopes of taking the third frame.
While Brecel responded with a brilliant century break of his own to reduce his arrears to 3-1 at the mid-session interval, an error on his break-off shot was heavily punished with O’Sullivan making the highest break of the tournament so far with a 134.
O’Sullivan wrapped up his comprehensive win with another century, followed by a half century.
BBC Sport.
A.I
Tags: David Gilbert Luca Brecel Mark Williams Ronnie O'Sullivan
