Ronnie lost the first frame of his last 32 match against Michael Georgiou, the first in this tournament, but played amazingly well after that. When I saw him come back to the table, at the end of frame one, well after it was lost, to get his arm going and a good feel of the table, I knew he was up for it. Ronnie’s performance was duly praised by a very sporting Michael, who claimed that the experience had been amazing despite the defeat and that Ronnie “is not human” …

Here are the scores, Ronnie first (source Cuetracker):

Scores: 49-83(52); 82(82)-4; 84(84)-0; 70-19; 88(67)-20; 66-31; 73(69)-1

Here is the official report on Worldsnooker (excerpt):

Monday 28 Nov 2016 06:02PM

Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby both scored emphatic 6-1 wins at the Betway UK Championship on Monday to reach the last 16.

O’Sullivan conceded a frame for the first time in the tournament, having won his first two matches 6-0, but then reeled off six in a row to beat world number 99 Michael Georgiou.

Breaks of 82, 84, 67 and 69 helped five-time UK Champion O’Sullivan book a fourth round meeting with Joe Perry or Matthew Stevens. Georgiou described his opponent’s ability as “not human” after being blown off the table.

“That’s a big compliment from a fellow professional,” admitted 40-year-old O’Sullivan. “There’s a lot of hard work and discipline behind being able to play well. When people talk about it being natural and effortless, I find that insulting because I work as hard as anyone. Someone once asked Muhammad Ali about his natural talent and he said it only looks that way because he gets up at 6am and spends the whole day running and training.”

And a few pictures posted on twitter by BBC and Worldsnooker

The match previews by the ES pundits and the BBC:

MissingClips

The full match:

2016 UK Champs: Ronnie O’Sullivan – Michael Georgiou

The ES review:

MissingClip 2016 UK Champs: review of the Ronnie O’Sullivan – Michael Georgiou match (Eurosport) including Ronnie’s and Mark Selby’s interviews after their matches.

Ronnie’s postmatch with Rob Walker, saying he feels his firepower is coming back and a tournament win could be around the corner for him:

Ronnie also had a right rant at BBC’s SPOTY (Sports Personality Of The Year) for once again snubbing snooker, but I’ll do a separate topic on that.

And as it’s always nice to start the day with a laugh, here is something the Ronnie shared on his facebook page.