Ronnie needed less than an hour and 15 minutes to book his place in the last 32 where he will face a much improved Michael Georgiou. They will play this afternoon.
Here is the official report on Worldsnooker (excerpt):
Sunday 27 Nov 2016 05:46PM
Ronnie O’Sullivan scored his second consecutive 6-0 victory at the Betway UK Championship, beating Rhys Clark to reach the last 32.
The Rocket needed 56 minutes to win his opening round tie with Boonyarit Keattikun last week and this time he needed 17 minutes more to finish off his victim. Breaks of 112, 79, 82, 81 and 131 helped five-time UK champion O’Sullivan sail into round three, where he will face Michael Georgiou.
“Rhys is a good player and he looked nervous today, but it’s nerve racking for everybody,” said O’Sullivan, who hasn’t won a title since the Welsh Open last February. “If you think that I’m going out there totally relaxed then you’re mistaken. You need to have nerves out there, it’s who handles it best. That’s what you do as a professional, block everything out and concentrate on the job at hand.”
Here is the full match:
2016 UK Champs: Ronnie O’Sullivan – Rhys Clark
This is the pundits’ post-match analysis, with a nice little interview with Ronnie:
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And Ronnie’s interview with Rob Walker after the match:
Ronnie also spoke to the BBC and to Hector Nunns after the match, admitting he doesn’t enjoy practicing much these days, doesn’t like the “128” system, that he prefers the punditry to actual play, and wants to enjoy his life. But having said that, he also insisted that he’s still competitive and that he will carry on until he feels he isn’t good enough anymore.
Read about those interviews here:
With Hector Nunns (in the Express)
Ronnie O’Sullivan jokes: Snooker is full of numpties and he blags his way through matches
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN insisted he is “blagging it” these days, despite a second whitewash win in a row at the Betway UK Championship in York.
By HECTOR NUNNS
The Rocket handed out a 6-0 drubbing to Scotland’s Rhys Clark, who suffered the same fate against the five-time UK winner three years ago.
O’Sullivan, who rattled in two centuries to take his career tally to 846, allowed him 83 points this time, compared to just 38 in 2013.
And afterwards the 40-year-old, whose breakthrough title came in this tournament as a 17-year-old, also took a pot shot at the 128-player field and four-table arena set-up.
The five-time world champion said: “I am trying to blag it out there for a while, because I won’t be spending hours in a practice room dementing myself.
And I’ll keep blagging it until I am not good enough to qualify, compete, even win – but what else am I going to do? Might as well turn up and hit a few balls.
“You know if you get to the quarters or semis there won’t be numpties, although there are a few numpties in snooker.
“Having 128 players here in round one last week may be great for snooker, but it is not great for me. As a top player you want to be in top major events, maybe I have been spoilt.
“I find coming in at round one demotivating, and there are only three tournaments I really look forward to playing in.
“It is not my favourite event with four tables out there at this stage, but compared to a knockabout down the snooker hall I’d rather be here.”
Mark Allen was ecstatic after finally making the first maximum 147 break of his career in frame seven of a 6-4 win over Rod Lawler.
Northern Ireland’s Allen, who had made two 146 breaks, said: “It is a monkey off my back, most of the top players have made one. As a kid you have a checklist and that was on it.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan says he is “blagging it” as a snooker player – because he would rather enjoy life than spend hours practising.
O’Sullivan, 40, beat Scotland’s Rhys Clark 6-0 in his second-round match at the UK Championship in York.
But the five-time UK champion said: “I try to still be as competitive as I can, but if not, it is a lot easier being a pundit than playing.
“I really do enjoy the pundit work much more than playing.”
O’Sullivan, who beat Thailand’s Boonyarit Keattikun 6-0 in just 56 minutes in his first-round match, added: “I love playing when you have the matches but all the practice – I am not a lover of that.
“You used to have football player managers. I see myself as a pundit snooker player.
“Rather than drive myself mad and play this game and think ‘that’s all I have got’, I try to embrace different things which take the pressure off.”
The world number eight plays Londoner Michael Georgiou in the third round on Monday, as he looks earn a sixth victory in an event he first won in 1993.
A winner of 28 ranking events, including five world championship titles, O’Sullivan said he was not a fan of the four-table set-up at the York Barbican, which stays in place until the fourth round begins on Wednesday.
He added: “With four tables, it is really difficult. There is no crowd around the sides so the atmosphere isn’t great, but it is better than playing down the billiard hall. I would rather play here on a Sunday afternoon than the billiard hall.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hitting balls in a snooker room. I would rather be embracing a bit of life.
“I just try to blag it now and see where it goes – until I drop out and think I am not good enough to qualify for events or win. I will turn up and once I get beaten, I can go in the pundit box.”
Ronnie O'Sullivan 