It was a bit of a disappointing end of an otherwise brilliant season for Ronnie as he lost by 13-9 to Ali Carter in the last 16 this afternoon. Ronnie did actually play better than he had in the last 32 against Maguire, but Ali played really, really well and he deserved the win 100%. The pundits on BBC, Steve Davis and John Parrot said that this was probably the best ever they had seen from Ali.
Ronnie had no complaints in his post-match press conference
Ronnie’s full press conference is here:
There appeared to be a bit of needle between the players as Ronnie appeared to “barge” Ali’s shoulder whilst going back to his seat. But both players downplayed the “incident” after the match and the final handshake looked friendly enough. The baseline is probably that they were both so intense that it got a bit out of hand in the heat of the moment but nothing more.
Here is the report on Worldsnooker
Ali Carter came through an ill-tempered clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-9 at the Betfred World Championship to book his place in the quarter-finals.
The tension was palpable in a fiery Crucible atmosphere. The pair exchanged words after clashing shoulders in the 19thframe, with Carter leading 10-8. Referee Paul Collier interjected and asked the two players to calm down.
Just the previous evening Carter had neglected to shake Collier’s hand at the end of the second session. However, he later apologised to the official, stating that he forgot due to being so focused on the match.
Carter came into the tie with the odds stacked against him. This victory was his first in 14 meetings with the Rocket. The pair have previously met in two World Championship finals, with O’Sullivan lifting the title in 2008 and 2012.
On this occasion Carter imposed himself from the off, finishing the first and second sessions with 5-3 and 9-7 advantages.
O’Sullivan attempted to apply the pressure in the early stages this afternoon. Carter had taken a 37-0 lead in the opening frame, but missed a yellow with the rest. That allowed the 33-time ranking event winner to step in and clear with a sublime break of 66 and make it 9-8.
Carter refused to flinch and a run of 63 helped him to restore his two-frame advantage. Following the altercation in the 18th, the Captain secured the frame to move three ahead at 11-8.
Breaks of 59 and 71 saw O’Sullivan claw his deficit back to 11-9 at the mid-session. When they returned Carter struck a critical blow.
The five-time Crucible king O’Sullivan had looked set to take the frame, but broke down on 54 when he missed a regulation blue. The Captain stepped up to the plate and made a steely clearance of 51 to take the frame on the black. He then won the next to seal a famous victory and he roared with delight in the aftermath. Carter will now face either two-time Crucible winner Mark Williams or Robert Milkins in the quarter-finals.
On the incident in the 18th frame Carter said: “He will do anything he can to win, and so will I. He barged me, but I’m sorry, I’m not going to be bullied by anyone. I’ve been through a lot in my life, much harder things than a shoulder barge from someone. If I was going to fall over and roll on the floor, that’s not me as a person. It’s impossible. He didn’t exactly head-butt me and put me on the floor. The Crucible is really tight, it’s packed in there. We brushed shoulders and that’s all there is to it. There’s no malice there from me.
“I’m not intimidated by Ronnie like other players are. I’ve been through harder things than that in my life, so I won’t let myself down.
“There was a barge. I’m walking to the table and he’s walking away from the table. I might have invaded his space and he might have invaded mine. It’s heat of the moment stuff, there’s not a load of room out there. We had a little shoulder barge and a laugh about it, there’s no malice there.
“It’s a great win. I’ve got the utmost respect for Ronnie and what he’s done for the game. He’s under huge pressure and expectation, and to beat him today is very special. I’m only in the quarter finals, the job’s not done yet, so I’ll go home for a day or two and come back for the next match which will be even harder.”
O’Sullivan said: “There’s not a lot of space out there, it’s the Crucible and if it was about three inches smaller I doubt you could hold the event here. There were a couple of collisions out there and sometimes you just touch each other. Formula One has it all the time, they have contact in cars and we have contact with humans. It was nothing, just heat of the moment stuff and it’s forgotten about.”
“There’s no hard feelings between me and Ali. We’ve known each other since we were ten and practised together. I’m not sure many players speak to each other during matches. Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis didn’t chat. I’m not one for chatting anyway. It’s quite superficial stuff really if you’re trying to create a relationship and a chat with an opponent. They are my rivals and competitors, I don’t want to get too friendly with anyone.”
Big thanks to Tai Chengzhe for these pictures
MissingClip 2018 WSC: preview of the Ronnie O’Sullivan – Allister Carter match (Session1, Eurosport)
Session 1:
MissingClip 2018 WSC: review of the Ronnie O’Sullivan – Allister Carter match (Session1, Eurosport)
Session 2:
Session 3:
MissingClip 2018 WSC: review of the Ronnie O’Sullivan – Allister Carter match (Session3, Eurosport)
And just to lift our mood a bit … the big incident.
and true to his word Ronnie cooked his friend a breakfast on the barge, setting the fire alarm off in the process!
Unfortunately, Matt Smith’s prediction didn’t come true and Ronnie wasn’t a winner … and if I’m honest, I don’t think he will win another World title now. (trying a bit of reverse jinx …)
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Monique, I believe that my comment has finished in the spam. Can you do something? Thank you.
done
It was very sad to watch Ronnie losing with Carter. I think that Carter was a little bit unfair along the match but he deserved to win because he was always in front and played great snooker missing almost nothing. I don’t know whether Ronnie’s loss 2014 in the final with Selby has changed something in his mind. But it’s a fact that after then he was no more the same at the Crucible losing every year at the second round. Maybe Ronnie puts too much expectations and pressure on himself. In my opinion he wasn’t at his best at all, and he showed that with Maguire in the 1st round. His break-building wasn’t at his usual high standard. Even if he had potted that blue to go 11-10 he would win the match. He wasn’t confident with his game and his safety didn’t work sometimes. I don’t know whether Ronnie’ll be able to win his 6th world title. Maybe it will happen one year as the underdog and when nobody would expect it.
Just a question for Monique: why do you think that Ronnie will never more win at the Crucible? Thank you.
Because he seems coming into this tournament full of apprehension rather than hope and I wonder if/how it affects his preparation. Well, that’s my own perception nothing more. You might well be right. Maybe if he could come here with no expectations on him, like in 2013, he could play more freely and succeed again.
Ronnie could try being bothered once. Might work, like
If you think he wasn’t bothered you are really blind Adam. If anything he was too bothered. There was no freedom in his game, he was very tense out there and that is why he failed to get his positional game right. If he wasn’t bothered he could easily have let it go and lose to Maguire. In both matches he fought back after getting way behind.
Stop being bitter.
I think it’s fair to assume that he cares a lot more about his cooking book. Also, if he cares it only means he’s simply this bad. 2nd round player.
Yes, I am disappointed that Ronnie lost and I wished him the 6th title, but i didn’t see the form for it and for me he was not the great favorite for the title this year!! He had a brillant season and we as his fans hope he will do as he said in the press he will make the 1000 centuries, win tournements and try to overcome Hendry’s record in triplecrown-wins – it need not be the worldchampionchip – 5 wins are a lot!!. So hopeful we can see him playing and winning some more time (years) and away table I wish him happiness and success in trying to motivate the Britains in loosing weight!!! – when I was in holidays in Great Britain I was really shocked!
Now is the time to let ROS relax and enjoy the fantastic season he has had. He will be back with a few more serious attempts at the worlds. Next season will also see a few more records will tumble………….. He is still the guvnor!
With that draw he should be able to reach at least the semis.
Ok Carter played well but how on Earth is possible to have 73% pot success for 5 frames against Ali?????
He will NOT win World Championship anymore. The 17 days is not possible for him. One week tournaments are OK for him.
Let us be honest:Ronnie played a fantastic season but at the WCS he was not himself.In both matches I saw him missing so much easy balls.I think the format of the WCS does no longer suits him at this state of his career.I think he goes there without any believe he can win it and finds it hard to motivate himself in the early part of such long matches.He played 5 sessions against the nrs 15 and 18 of the world and only won 1,and draw 1 and lost 3!Let us hope he will suceed in his 3 targets he wants to get before his retiring:1)1000 centuries 2)a 19th triple crown win(probably masters) 3) equaling or do better than SH his 36 ranking titles. I hope we will still be able to watch Ronnie for a few more years ,because snooker will not be the same without him.Have a nice holiday Ronnie,and hope to see you soon in the next season.
Ronnie never appeared settled at all this week. Perhaps the length of the tournament made it difficult to concentrate on these ‘early’ matches, after having had so much success in the 1-week events throughout the season. He had awkward opponents this year, so it’s not necessarily the end of Ronnie’s World Championship chances.
I only make World Championship predictions after the first round, once I’ve seen how everyone is hitting the ball. But I was predicting Ronnie to beat Allen in the final. So much for that, but it now opens things up considerably, and almost any of the remaining seeds could win.
Truly disappointing and it was painful to see Ronnie miss some pots he would never miss normally. I did not necessarily expect him to win the tournament, but certainly did not expect him to depart so early either, especially given that despite what he keeps saying about the length not favouring him, lately he started many matches he ended up winning, very slowly, so I truly expected that the long matches would be to his advantage. So a disapponting finish to a briliant season.
Well, I did not care for Ali Carter’s utterances after his first round against Dott or now, but I suspect all this will be soon forgotten by most people.
He is not the best what he was between 2012-2014 world final. And that final has changed everything. Lost the fear factor.
Cannot believe how he struggled this year….
Yesterday: from 3-3 to 3-8 his pot success rate was 73% what is ironically NUMPTY…
Anyway great season great 5 victories and few days later I’ll call this season as the best but i’m really really depressed
About the Crucible: will win tournaments but he will not reach the one table setup anymore!
I really am disappointed this year. I want nothing more in snooker than to see ROS win another world title, and that dream has been postponed yet another year. Given the season he had, I really was expecting him to go the distance this year, but alas, it just wasnt meant to be.
Ill be joining in on the reverse jinx from now on…