Ronnie won an absolute cracker of a match against Mark Selby yesterday afternoon. This was, in my opinion, the best match of the season so far. He’s now in the Final where he will play Judd Trump over two sessions, best of 17.
Here is the report on Worldsnooker:
Ronnie O’Sullivan came through a dramatic deciding frame to beat Mark Selby 6-5 in a classic semi-final at the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open in Belfast.
The pair have become accustomed to doing battle on the sport’s grandest stages, having contested finals against each other in all three of the Triple Crown events. However, this was their first clash for almost two years. They last crossed cues in the 2016 UK Championship final where Selby won 10-7.
The wait was worthwhile, with both players producing a match of supreme standard and high drama this afternoon.
Selby claimed the first frame, but the Rocket responded immediately. Five-time World Champion O’Sullivan took to the front with back-to-back century runs of 135 and 114, before Selby reeled him in with a break of 92 to make it 2-2 at the mid-session.
They continued to trade big breaks when they returned. Contributions of 87 and 112 saw O’Sullivan move 4-2 in front. The Jester pulled one back, before the Rocket claimed the eighth frame and re-established his two-frame lead at 5-3.
The three-time Crucible king Selby then showed his big match steel, making a break of 72 to keep his hopes alive going into what proved to be a tense tenth frame. It came down to the final red, where the pair contested a safety battle until O’Sullivan went in-off. Selby pounced on the opportunity, firing home a fine long red and clearing to force a decider.
Both players had opportunities to take the final frame, with each of them breaking down by missing a black off the spot. It once again came down to the final red and things looked to be going Selby’s way, with O’Sullivan trapped in a difficult snooker. He missed it three-times, before fluking the fourth attempt and clearing with 32 to win on the final black.
O’Sullivan said: “I’ve had some stinkers against Mark over the years and he has had some stinkers against me. Sometimes you collide and both play well. Today was one of those days. You have seen me play a few good matches and some not so great. Nobody knows what they are going to get from one day to the next. That is the mystery of this game.
“Mark looked really dangerous around the balls. He still has all the nous around the table and all of the presence. He, alongside John Higgins, has the best bottle in the game.”
Despite the agonising nature of the defeat Selby was in an upbeat mood about his form heading into the upcoming UK Championship.
“I’ve been playing well all week, so I have a lot of positives to take. I just have to go back to the practice table and look forward to the UK Championship,” said Selby. “To compete with Ronnie when he played as well as that shows where my game is at.”
The only thing I’d like to add is that, yes Ronnie fluked the last red of the match, escaping from a tough snooker … that was itself the result of a huge fluke. So the players are even there!
Both players gave it their absolute best and this match is the best advert the sport could get. It had everything and was played in great spirit as well.
Here are the reaction of the players, and Stephen Hendry, shortly after the match
And a few great images thanks to Tai Chengzhe once again.
The preview
The MSI
The action
The review
Plus two interviews:
Some bizarre questions in that second one…
As for the match today, Ronnie suggested that he may need to wear a crash helmet the way Judd Trump is banging the balls in. Trump has looked unstoppable in patches, but yesterday, when Eden Sharav was coming back at him he clearly wobbled for a while. So the keys for Ronnie today will be to let him get too far in front and manage to put him under pressure.
As for the race to the Grand Prix, Ronnie is now ranked 21 and looks fairly safe.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Who said Ronnie was lucky and anything like this:
(Last Sunday’s final: yep Ronnie had 3 lucky situation: at 6-5 up fluked a red for the starter + at 8-9 down fluked a snooker after the careless double + when Wilson was unlucky at 9-9 when he splitted the pack.)
Yesterday in the first 8 frames Ronnie played some of his best snooker.
EVERY OTHER PLAYERS FROM THE MAIN TOUR sould’ve lost to that Ronnie a lot heavier 6-2 or 6-3.
And every credit to Selby to stay close.
Because unlikely my predcit before the match Ronnie was the dominant player.
In frame 10 the match became a bit of Selby style match.
Ronnie should’ve won the frame with an excellent break if he didn’t miss the blue off the spot after all of the hard work to score break of 26.
Selby was very lucky to laid a snooker to Ronnie when he missed a long red in frame 10.
Without this it should’ve been 6-4 for Ronnie.
In frame 11 both players missed his chances. Ronnie’s head was a bit gone I think.
Again Selby was lucky to fluke a massive snooker after miss the last red to the right middle pocket.
A bit surprised for me that when Selby got a free ball from the miss he didn’t try to put black safe and playa snooker behin the yellow.
It was very fortunate for Ronnie to escape that massive snooker before there were no enough points on the table to take the frame.
And it was very lucky situation to fluked the final red.
But it was one of the best match you’ll ever wish to see.
It was fantastic battle.
And it was frightening that how Friday’s Ronnie turned Saturday’s Ronnie.
About today: i do not know what to expect: I just hope one good day for Ronnie that have about 1.5 weeks to get some rest.
It’s a bit from last year’s Miami ATP tournament when Federer was very tired played some long battles (for instance against Kyrgios).
Then had to face Nadal in the final. And I just think Federer’s told himself that ‘cmon, one more match one more battle than a rest’.