Please note that this is NOT an official website. At this point in time Ronnie O’ Sullivan does not have an official website, nor does he wish to have one.
Ronnie beat Shaun Murphy by 5-3 in a match that was entertaining as one can expect from these two as they are both positive attacking players. Ronnie already had a quite superior head-to head over Shaun and he’s only “extended” it!
Ronnie O’Sullivan extended his winning record over Shaun Murphy, prevailing 5-3 to make the quarter-finals of the World Open in Yushan.
Having elected to adopt a limited calendar for the season, this will be the Rocket’s first quarter-final appearance since making the final of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters last August.
The Rocket stated earlier this week that he has spent his time away from the match arena rebuilding his game and technique. He previously revealed that the one goal left in his career is to capture a record-breaking eighth World Championship crown.
Victory today for O’Sullivan avenges a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Murphy earlier this season, at the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship. It also means O’Sullivan has now beaten Murphy in 15 of their 19 professional meetings.
It was Murphy who took a 2-1 lead this afternoon, top scoring with 139 in the second. However, from there 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan powered for the line. Breaks of 70, 121, 89 and 76 saw him take four of the next five to secure a last eight tie with Ryan Day, who beat Latvia’s Artemijs Zizins 5-4.
After today’s win O’Sullivan stressed it is performances over results which are his main focus at the moment.
“Shaun has been playing unbelievably. He has been so strong. I was happy when I got to 2-2. I thought at least I’ve been involved in a game against a top quality player. To win is even better,” said 50-year-old O’Sullivan.
“If I can get my cue through the ball I will be alright. It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose. I am able to do that now. It has been torturous to be honest with you. It has been really hard work.
“For me, just going out there and playing is a victory. Whether I win or lose is irrelevant. For me to be able to go out there and not feel scared is a victory. I am happy to go out there and feel that if I get a chance I might do something. Before I was thinking please don’t miss, don’t let me on the table. This is what was going through my head.“
Some images shared by WST on Weibo:
And videos shared by WST and TNT on Youtube
There isn’t really much to add to the above report. That’s one good aspect of these “elite” events: because the field is small every match can get the exposure, attention and reporting it deserves.
Ryan Day is next for Ronnie in the QF round. Ryan is another very attacking player so that should be a good one to watch as well. Ryan IMO has underachieved as a professional. I have seen him play in exhibitions and what he showed at the table on those occasions was surreal really. Ryan’s relative “weakness” is that he’s more vulnerable under high pressure than other top players.
Shaun Murphy set up a blockbuster showdown with Ronnie O’Sullivan at the World Open in Yushan, after thrashing China’s Xu Si 5-1.
The Magician hasn’t fared brilliantly against the Rocket over their career head-to-heads, with O’Sullivan leading 14-4. However, their most recent clash at this season’s Riyadh Season Snooker Championship ended in a 4-0 win for Murphy.
Today’s win for Murphy saw him put on a break building clinic. Contributions of 84, 117, 61 and 59 saw him come from 1-0 down and lead 4-1. He then embarked on an ambitious maximum break attempt. Having potted 15 reds with blacks, after battling to get the white in position throughout, he missed a yellow to end his run on 120.
Murphy said: “I just lost my composure I think. I was a bit excited. I made a 147 here last year. It would have been a great moment. I played a lot of great shots to keep getting on the black and then when I had them on a plate I lost my brain. It isn’t as easy as some people make it look.
“I’ve been playing well for a season or two. I ran into Chang Bingyu at the Welsh Open and he played snooker from the Gods. I feel a bit sick of saying that but it has been like that. I’ve been running into superheroes playing unbelievable snooker. It is a test of perseverence snooker. It is about mental toughness. Can you keep going? With this event, the Tour Championship and World Championship to come. It is a great time to be hitting form.
“Any time Ronnie is in the event it adds a certain buzz to it. There is always that bit more media attention. As Ronnie says it isn’t as if he hasn’t been playing. A bit like when he took the year out and won the World Championship, it wasn’t like he didn’t play at all. It is a bit of a myth to say he hasn’t played any snooker. He looks in good touch to me. Some people might say he isn’t as sharp, others might say he is fresh. All this talk about an eighth World Championship. What a position to be in, some might say he has done it the right way and kept himself fresh.
O’Sullivan booked his progression with a 5-0 whitewash win over Matthew Selt.
The seven-time Crucible King compiled contributions of 77, 138, 96 and 52 to book his place in the last 16. Afterwards, he reiterated Murphy’s point about a lack of match time equalling a lack of work on his game.
“I always prepare well. I know people question if I practise enough. Everyone has done that since I was a kid. They seem to think I just turn up. I prepare harder than probably any other player and I work harder. I think people just assume I only need to get out of bed and pot balls. That isn’t the case. I work very hard,” said 50-year-old O’Sullivan.
“I played alright today. I didn’t give him much room to do what he would have liked to do. I take credit for him not playing his best. Matt is a really good player and he plays to a very high level. I was aware I had to play to a high level.”
World number one Judd Trump sealed his last 16 place with a 5-2 defeat of Welshman Jackson Page. The Ace in the Pack top scored with a century run of 118.
World Champion Zhao Xintong was a 5-1 victor against Englishman Sam Craigie and now looks forward to a last 16 meeting with Gary Wilson.
World number 17 Stuart Bingham’s chances of leap frogging Ding Junhui, moving into the top 16 and qualifying automatically for the Halo World Championship were ended with a 5-4 loss against Wu Yize. He moves on to face Masters Champion Kyren Wilson, who beat Allan Taylor 5-1.
Jack Lisowski also bowed out of the Crucible race after a 5-1 loss to Mark Allen. The Pistol faces Zhou Yuelong in the last 16.
Hossein Vafaei rallied from 2-0 down to beat Mark Williams 5-2, crafting a fine 127 break along the way. He now plays Zhang Anda, who beat Xiao Guodong 5-2.
There isn’t much to add about the match. Ronnie played well but not at his very best. That said he didn’t need to and he certainly scored heavily when in the balls.
Here are the scores for that match:
Some images shared on Weibo…
And videos shared by WST on Youtube
There isn’t much to add about the match.
Ronnie has an excellent record against Shaun Murphy, but every match is different and Shaun is a top player. I’m sure Ronnie will not take it for granted.
On another topic … Ronnie has NOT entered the 2026 Tour Championship, despite qualifying for it1. This has been shared on social media by reliable sources. It is obvious that, at this stage of his career, Ronnie priorities aren’t all about his snooker. Life, wellbeing, time for family and other interests have taken precedence. He has nothing to prove anyway.
and despite the huge prize money./ranking points ↩︎
Ronnie beat Ross Muir by 5-1 in his first round held-over match at the 2026 World Open in Yushan.
Here are the scores for that match:
As you can see, Ronnie played pretty well and scored heavily when in the balls. He didn’t make many mistakes. I can’t say that Ross made many mistakes himself because, more often than not when he made one, it was ruthlessly punished and he didm’t get another chance.
Here are the last two frames of the match shared on Youtube by WST.
Ronnie was due to play Ishpreet Singh Chadah in round 2, but Ishpreet has withdrawn, so, next for Ronnie is a round 3 match against Matt Selt on Wednesday.
Ronnie O’Sullivan eased through his opening clash with Ross Muir at the World Open in Yushan with a 5–1 victory, but afterwards admitted that restoring his game to the level he wants would be the “biggest achievement” of his career.
The Rocket has recently embarked on a quest to rebuild his game in a bid to rediscover his top form before his career is over. Earlier this season he admitted that his one remaining goal in snooker is to win a record breaking eighth World Championship.
O’Sullivan came close to perfection in today’s encounter with Scotland’s Muir. The Englishman deposited 15 reds and 14 blacks in the fifth frame, before going in off with the 15th black to end his run on 113. He went on to fire past the line with 114 in the next to progress. With his last 64 opponent Ishpreet Singh Chadha having withdrawn from the event, O’Sullivan now progresses to the last 32, where he will face Matthew Selt.
“I got here a week early just to do some practising on my own. I’ve been working really hard on my game. I know I haven’t played a lot of tournaments, but I’ve been working because my game has been in such a bad place. It isn’t like I’ve had my feet up while everyone has been playing. I’ve decided I really need to attack this now. I have one last throw of the dice really. The last three years have been awful in terms of confidence. I’m trying to work on that now and see if I can get back to delivering the cue freely,”
“I’ll commit to two years to work on it and try to prolong my career. Cueing how I was cueing, there was going to be no longevity in it. I’ve been working harder than I ever have done, it just hasn’t been on TV. It has been behind closed doors. I’m trying to attack it rather than hope something changes. I’m breaking it down and trying to recoach myself.
“I was saying to a friend the other day that if I manage to get out of this it would be my biggest achievement in snooker. If I can feel how I did six or seven years ago, that would trump anything. Seven World Championships, eight Masters, this would rank higher than any of those achievements. I’m under no illusions how difficult it will be but I’m not going to retire because something I tried didn’t work for me. I’m going to get back to my natural instinct of playing and recoach myself in some sort of way.” said O’Sullivan.
Ronnie has achieved what he has in his career so far BECAUSE he’s a perfectionist, although this constant quest for perfection has also been his undoing at times, and a torture… but he is who he is, it’s his core nature, it won’t change. He has to live with that nature through successes and disappointments, through bliss and despair at times … and we, fans, live it with him.
Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins, Stephen Maguire, David Gilbert, Chris Wakelin, Chris Totten, Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Jak Jones have pulled out of next week’s World Open in China.
Selby was due to face Michael Holt in the last 64 on Tuesday March 17th, instead Holt receives a bye to the last 32.
Hawkins was due to meet Ian Burns on Tuesday so Burns also receives a bye to the last 32.
Maguire was due to face Xu Si on Monday so Xu receives a bye to the last 32.
Gilbert was due to face Matthew Selt on Monday so Selt receives a bye to the last 32.
Wakelin was due to face Artemijs Zizins on Monday so Zizins receives a bye to the last 32.
Singh Chadha was due to face either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Ross Muir on Tuesday so the winner of the match will receive a bye to the last 32.
Jones was due to face Luca Brecel on Monday so Brecel receives a bye to the last 32.
Totten was due to play Judd Trump in a first round heldover match, so Totten is replaced by the highest available player from the Q School top up list, Mark Lloyd.
But those who are there, including Ronnie, were made to feel welcome by the fans today
Yesterday evening, Anton Kazakov from Ukraime defeated Oliver Sykes from England by 5-4 to become the 2026 European Champion. Both players get a 2 years professional tour card.
Kazakov Completes European Double As Sykes Secures WST Debut
Anton Kazakov defeated Oliver Sykes 5-4 to win the 2026 EBSA European Championship title in Gandia, Spain.
The victory saw the Ukrainian complete a memorable double, adding to the Under-21 crown he secured earlier in the week with 18 consecutive wins at the Gandia Palace Hotel, while Main event runner-up Oliver Sykes also earned a World Snooker Tour (WST) two-year tour card for the first-time in his career by reaching the final.
A total of 172 players contested the event, organised by the European Billiards & Snooker Association (EBSA), and Kazakov continued his outstanding form to finish top of a group that also featured Under-21 finalist Riley Powell, Belgium’s Nick Demuynck and Jan Laushman from Bulgaria.
A whitewash win over Arsenii Korolev was followed by a 4-1 success against reigning German national champion Simon Lichtenberg to reach the last 16, where he faced former professional Peter Lines.
Lines was able to rally from 3-1 behind to force a decider, but it was the 21-year-old who held his nerve to win through before denying former European Under-16 champion Vladislav Gradinari in the quarter-finals – just as he had done in the Under-21 competition earlier in the week.
The tournament high break of 140 then helped Kazakov comfortably past Finnish former professional Robin Hull to reach a second successive final, where he met Sykes.
The 20-year-old Englishman had been in fine form across the week and a 4-1 defeat of Germany’s Umut Dikme on Saturday morning guaranteed Sykes his place on the WST for the first time from the start of the 2026/27 campaign.
A closely fought title match saw the first eight frames of the match shared with neither player ever leading by more than a one, meaning it all came down to a decider.
It was Kazakov who proved to be the man of the moment once again as he took the ninth and decisive frame by a 62-5 scoreline to complete a memorable double in Gandia.
The final was a good match to watch. Both gave it their all, both played well. It’s just a shame that the live streaming on Youtube was interrupted for several minutes1 at one point.
Anton has been on tour before and he didn’t perform at all. This time however he will know what is expected, and having had this experience, hopefully will be able to play to his true potential. Also, we should not forget that the situation in his country is extremely difficult. It’s hard enough for a very young person to live alone in a foreign country, away from friends and family, just imagine how it must be if , every day, they fear for those they love because their country is at war. I hope that Anton will be made to feel very welcome on tour and that, if needed, he will get the psychological and emotional support, should he need it. We should never forget that behind the “player”, is a human person.
WPBSA Qualifying Criteria Announced for 2026 World Snooker Championship
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) and World Snooker Tour have today announced the qualification criteria for the 16 amateur places at the 2026 World Snooker Championship in Sheffield in April.
The qualifying rounds will take place in Sheffield from 6-15 April with 16 places at the Crucible Theatre to be won.
Alongside all professionals ranked outside the elite top 16, following the 2026 Tour Championship, and top-ups from the 2025 Q School Order of Merit, will be 16 leading amateur players who have earned their place at the event following their performances at recognised international events across the season.
These include outstanding performers at the World Snooker Federation Championships in Sofia, and the WPBSA Q Tour Global which will reach its conclusion in Spain this March.
The exceptional performance of Alfie Burden who lifted his maiden professional ranking event title at the Shoot Out as an amateur top up player has also been recognised. Burden also won the World Seniors Snooker Championship for the first time in 2025.
Jason Ferguson, WPBSA Chairman said: “We are once again pleased to confirm how 16 WPBSA qualifiers will earn their places at this season’s professional World Snooker Championship in Sheffield.
“In line with previous seasons, the elite performers from recognised WPBSA Tour pathways are once again included and will have the opportunity to contest the biggest title in our sport this spring.
“There can be no better inspiration than the performance of China’s Zhao Xintong, who last year made history as he became the first WPBSA qualifier to lift the trophy at the Crucible Theatre, having begun his campaign in the very first round following his achievements at last season’s WPBSA Q Tour Europe.
“Players hoping to emulate his success a year on will include successful players at the WSF Championships – including our newly crowned junior champion Michael Larkov – as well as the WPBSA Q Tour Global and European Championships.
“We are also delighted to recognise the incredible achievement of Alfie Burden only last month, who became a world ranking event winner for the first time at the Shoot Out, whilst competing as an amateur qualifier.
“I look forward to seeing these players have the opportunity to achieve their dreams and to compete on the biggest stage of all.”
2026 EBSA Under-18 European Championship Winner (Runner-up if already qualified) – (Vladislav Gradinari – because the winner Michal Sbubarczyk is a pro)
2026 EBSA Under-21 European Championship Winner (Runner-up if already qualified) – (Anton Kazakov )
Highest ranked eligible player on the Q Tour Europe rankings
Exceptional Performance – Amateur winning a professional world ranking event (Alfie Burden)
All players selected will appear subject to acceptance of their place and any travel restrictions in place. Any replacement players for these 16 places will be selected from the final WPBSA Q Tour Europe ranking list this season.
Any current professional players who do not enter the tournament will be replaced from the 2025 Q School Order of Merit.
The players continued to play… of course, we just couldn’t watch them. ↩︎
The “2026 EBSA main event European Championship Winner” didn’t feature in that list, which is quite strange, but it doesn’t matter that much now as Anton Kazakovhad already qualified, but, of course, Oliver Sykes, the runner-up, may/will feel robbed and, no matter how you look at it, it isn’t logical, nor rigth. I hope he gets the call.
Also Wang Xinbo has qualified twice as a runner-up so I’m not sure what happens there …
As they say in all good series … to be continued in the next episode
Selby, Hawkins And Totten Withdraw From World Open
Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins and Chris Totten have pulled out of next week’s World Open in China, all for medical reasons.
Selby was due to face Michael Holt in the last 64 on Tuesday March 17th, instead Holt receives a bye to the last 32.
Hawkins was due to meet Ian Burns on Tuesday so Burns also receives a bye to the last 32.
Totten was due to play Judd Trump in a first round heldover match, so Totten is replaced by the highest available player from the Q School top up list, Mark Lloyd.
The tournament runs from March 16-22 in Yushan.
As for Ronnie, going by pictures shared on Weibo, he’s already in China … where he’s probably safer than in Dubai right now.
2026 European Championships in Gandia, Spain.
This is a “set” of four events: Under-16, Under-18, Under-21 and Main Championship. The first three of those have been played to a conclusion.
The Under-16 event was won by Krzysztof Czapnik, a 15 years old from Poland. In the final, he beat Tadija Matijasevic, 15, from Serbia.
The Under-18 event was won by Michał Szubarczyk, 15 years old from Poland, In the Final he beat Valdislav Gradinari, 17, from Moldova.
The Under-21 event was won by Anton Kazakov, 21 years old from Ukraine. In the Final, he beat Riley Powells, 17, from Wales. This earned Anton a 2 years professional tour card, starting next season. Anton has been a pro before and his results were pretty poor. He was probably too young and not ready. Hopefully he does better this time. Also, the situation in Ukraine is rather worrying and that surely did not help young Anton.
As you can see, only one of the six junior finalists is British. So much for the myth that the UK centric nature of the World Snooker tour is somehow “justified” by the fact that the UK has the best players. They certainly DO NOT have the best young players and these are the future of the sport. I have said this before, The World Championship should travel the World, the Masters should probably move around as well and no more than five other events, the UK Championship and the home Nations, should be played in the UK. Mainland Europe deserves to have at least as many events as the UK. I know that part of the issue is the sponsoring, but it’s up to WST to work on that, and for that to succeed they will have to distance themselves from the “Betting Sphere”. Betting BTW should NEVER been promoted as it ruins lives, as surely as alcohol does. The life stories of the late Willie Thorne and John Virgo, as well as Mark King’s, are prime examples of what betting addiction can do to people. 1
Some questioned Michał Szubarczyk right to play in these events, as he is currently a pro. But the events he entered didn’t clash with any WST event and didn’t “carry” a tour card for the winner. These are probably the reasons why he was allowed to play in them. He din’t participate in the Under-21 event, that did carry a tour card for the winner.
Me, personally, I have lost three colleagues to suicide during my professional life. One, a young woman, had been left disfigured and was in constant pain following a terrible car accident. The other two, young men, took their own life over betting debts. One of these two left behind a wife and three young children … ↩︎
