Ronnie won his 6th World Championship tonight, beating Kyren Wilson by 18-8, equaling Steve Davis and Ray Reardon. This is his 37th ranking title, now superseeding Stephen Hendry, and his 20th “Triple Crown”.
Congratulations Ronnie!
These are the numbers
And the reports by WST on yesterday’s action
Ronnie O’Sullivan is just one frame away from a sixth Crucible triumph as he leads Kyren Wilson 17-8 in the final of the Betfred World Championship.
From 10-8, O’Sullivan reeled off seven frames in a row to leave his opponent down and virtually out. They resume at 7.30pm and if O’Sullivan makes it to 18 frames first he will add to the titles he won in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013.
Six Crucible crowns would bring him level with Steve Davis and just one behind Stephen Hendry, and at the age of 44 he would become the oldest World Champion since Ray Reardon in 1978. O’Sullivan would also move to 37 career ranking titles, putting him one ahead of Hendry.
Wilson took the first frame of the third session with a break of 73 to trail 10-8 overall. He then had a chance to clear from 64-0 down in the next but crucially missed a tricky pink to a centre pocket on 15 when the remaining balls were in the open. That proved a turning point as O’Sullivan took the frame for 11-8, giving him the momentum to pull away.
In frame 20, Wilson trailed 33-48 when he missed a mid-range red to a top corner, letting his opponent in for a break of 61. O’Sullivan added the next with a top run of 57 to make it 13-8 at the interval.
Another error from Wilson early in frame 22, a missed red to a centre pocket, allowed O’Sullivan to make 60 and extend his lead, and the Rocket compiled a run of 71 in the next for 15-8.
A missed yellow with the rest, when he led 15-0, proved costly for Wilson in frame 24 as O’Sullivan made 72. In the last frame of the session, O’Sullivan led 61-0 when he missed the black off its spot. But Wilson’s chance to counter-attack ended on just 7 when he failed to roll the black along the cushion into a top corner. And with that, his hopes of a fight-back may have disappeared.
Evening session
Ronnie O’Sullivan conquered the Crucible for the first time in seven years by beating Kyren Wilson 18-8 in the final of the Betfred World Championship, landing the title for the sixth time.
In a one-sided conclusion to the final in Sheffield, O’Sullivan pulled away from 10-8 to take the last eight frames as Wilson ran out of steam. Having struggled to find consistency in his technique throughout the tournament, something clicked for O’Sullivan on the last day as he reeled off a series of frame-winning breaks. A crowd of 300 watched him lift the trophy at the end of a tournament played under unique circumstances,
Six Crucible triumphs brings Chigwell’s O’Sullivan within one of the record of seven held by Stephen Hendry. He also moves to a record 37 ranking titles, one ahead of the legendary Scot. Only the most loyal Hendry fan could now dispute the opinion that O’Sullivan is snooker’s greatest ever player.
At the age of 44 he becomes the oldest World Champion since Ray Reardon in 1978, while six titles draws him level with Reardon and Steve Davis. O’Sullivan has now won 20 Triple Crown events with an extraordinary 27 years between the first and last.
The £500,000 top prize doubles his previous biggest winner’s cheque and boosts him from sixth to second in the world rankings, behind only runaway leader Judd Trump.
O’Sullivan’s World Finals
2001 beat John Higgins 18-14
2004 beat Graeme Dott 18-8
2008 beat Ali Carter 18-8
2012 beat Ali Carter 18-11
2013 beat Barry Hawkins 18-12
2014 lost to Mark Selby 18-14
2020 beat Kyren Wilson 18-8There were times during the event when O’Sullivan looked a frustrated, fading force, notably at 7-2 down against Mark Williams and 13-9 down against Mark Selby. He enjoyed slices of fortune, particularly in the deciding frame of a 17-16 win over Selby. Above all, this was a triumph for O’Sullivan’s fighting spirit over the temptation to throw in the towel which often bubbles below the surface. He has finally proved to himself that, well into his 40s, he can still complete this marathon of the mind.
Wilson may reflect on a missed chance when he trailed 10-8, after which he never threatened. The 28-year-old from Kettering gave everything to beat Judd Trump in the quarter-finals and Anthony McGill 17-16 in an epic semi-final. He faltered on the home stretch and and he has now lost six of his nine ranking finals, though he can learn from the experience of his best Crucible run. The £200,000 pay-day is by far his biggest and he is up to a career-high of sixth in the world.
Leading 17-8 after the third session, O’Sullivan needed just ten minutes to wrap up the match in the concluding session with a rapid run of 96. Over the last eight frames he made seven breaks over 50.
“I was happy to get one world title at one stage,” said O’Sullivan. “Once I got to four I knew I could call myself one of the greats, because that’s how many times John Higgins had won it. Anything above that and you are in fantastic company.
“One thing I have got is longevity. I go in and out of form and my mind can wander sometimes. Then I get a bit of a taste for it again and want to see if I’ve still got it, so I try to have a go at it as I have done in this tournament. When you practise for five or six hours a day it’s because you want to know whether you are hitting it straight enough to stand up under pressure.
“Kyren is a top player and is improving all the time. He has got desire, the hunger and the belief in his ability. His fire is burning bright enough and he will get there in the end. He will win this tournament one day – not to put too much pressure on him. He is a country mile above everyone else his age and he always wants to raise his own bar.”
Wilson said: “I’m not going to beat myself up to much. It was a dream come true to play Ronnie in the final. I really struggled in the first session yesterday. We both had a bit of a hangover from the semi-finals. I’m a fighter. I tried to just relax, let the shackles off and go for it.
“The night belongs to Ronnie, he was amazing in the final. He has shown his class when he wasn’t quite at his best. He was awesome in the third session.
“I’m very lucky to have what I have, to be 28 and playing the sport that I love. It has given me an amazing life. To perform in an arena like this is an honour and I’m glad that a crowd was allowed in for the final.”
And you can enjoy the end of the final frame and the trophy ceremony here
Kyren Wilson is a credit to himself and to snooker. His time will come.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
The most beautiful day since I began to be a Ronnie fan. Now it’s time to be happy for him. And to not pretend anymore else from Ronnie.
Congratulations to the Rocket for an incredible win to a sixth world title!!!
Back in August 2010 I started to play snooker with a couple of friends during the weekends and after a few times I started to search on youtube stuff like ‘how to play snooker’ and rolled into some videos of professional snooker players. Of course it didn’t take long before I clicked on a video that featured a guy called ‘Ronnie O’Sullivan’, I watched him potting 15 red with 15 blacks and the remaining colors in 5 min 20 secs (Ofc, now it’s changed to 5 min 8 secs! :D)!!
From that moment onwards I was sold to watching snooker, especially Ronnie, and I dived more into professional snooker and eventually found out that Stephen Hendry was apparently ‘the greatest snooker player of all time’. I kept watching videos of Ronnie and Hendry and started to watch snooker on the TV whenever there was a tournament on.
One of the first things that I saw live was Ronnie making that famous 147 at the 2010 World Open against Mark King, where he asked after the first black what the prize for a maximum was. He made that maximum and claimed the record for most maximums at that time. I realized that this guy was absolutely gold and that he should be called the greatest snooker player of all time, to me he already was.
At the world championships in 2011 I was cheering for Ronnie of course but unfortunately he lost to John Higgins in the quarter finals. During the next season it looked like he would drop out of the top 16 and maybe retire from snooker, I was wel aware of his mental breakdowns and his threatens to retire a couple of times already so I was scared that I would never see this guy perform anymore.
Well, ever since 2012, when I got really, really into watching snooker, it has been a treat to watch Ronnie play! He went on to win the WSC in 2012 playing absolutely phenomenal snooker! I watched the whole final live and I even saw his famous 92 break.
The doubts where still there to whether he was ever going to be considered as the greatest of all time when he took that sabbatical year… but his comeback to defend his title in 2013 was really genius, and nerve shredding to me because Barry Hawkins played really well in the final.
That really is the rest of the story for me, every time Ronnie played in a major final, it was nerve shredding! I wanted him to win so badly because I know he was on a mission to achieve that status as the greatest. I remember the UK final against Judd Trump in 2014… it looked like a piece of cake as Ronnie was 9-4 ahead, but man! I lost 10 years of my life to see Judd coming back to 9-9 and I was happy as a little child when Ronnie took the decider to claim his fifth UK title! 😀
It was really amazing to see him getting ever closer to equalling the big records in snooker, from winning his fifth Masters title against Selby, to equalling Stephen Hendry’s six Master titles in 2016. He continued to equal and smash records, taking over the record for most maximums by winning last frame of the Welsh Open in 2014 with a maximum, to equalling the 775 centuries at the Masters…
Ever since his WSC win in 2012, he won one of the triple crown each snooker season up till now and broke almost every record on the way! He was finally being considered as the greatest of all time, especially after his 7th UK win and 19th Triple crown in 2018 but some people were still sticking to Hendry because he won 7 WSC and Ronnie ‘only’ won 5. They said Ronnie was not up for it anymore, he was mentally not stable enough and he would never win another WSC… Deep down I knew he still wanted it and if possible even getting to 7 and 8, but I also started to doubt it after his losses to Ali Carter in 2018 and James Cahill last year.
But this guy, is absolutely phenomenal, he came to one of the toughest draws possible to beat Thepchaiya, Ding, Williams, Selby and Wilson to win his soooo much deserved sixth world title! Once again, he proved everybody wrong! I was super nervous all tournament long, especially at moments when he went behind against Ding, Williams and Selby but he has shown now that he is a master of comebacks as well!
Now I can finally relax and enjoy his win! It gives so much joy after such a long wait of 7 years, knowing that there were a lot of people mocking Ronnie that he would never win the WSC anymore!
Who can still deny that Ronnie is the greatest ever now? Since 2012, he is on that mission to break every record and he is ever getting closer to that ultimate, complete snooker career, and he is not finished yet!
Big love to Ronnie and to all the Ronnie fans here! 😀
My love story as fan of Ronnie was exactly the same as yours. I watched Ronnie winning that German Masters against Maguire in 2012 to qualify for the Crucible.
Brave and giant strategic victory. Just enjoy your entity Ronnie…and all to come so!
The man is pure genius and Box Office. NOW is the time for the BBC to finally put him forward for SPOTY and Snooker can finally be truly recognised for the skilful sport it is. May ROS continue to pick and choose his events for many years to come to help his longevity and hope he will do the odd exhibition too !! Best, Nigel @ Lincoln
I am afraid that nomination for SPOTY won’t happen…
It was ridiculous that he was not nominated for it after his record breaking 7th UK title and 19th triple crown in total so I won’t see why they would to it now… his sixth world title is not a new record or even equalling record (yes for a 37th ranking title but no WSC record) so I’m afraid it won’t happen, which is really strange. But luckily Ronnie doesn’t really care. 🙂
Yessssssss!!!!! The Donoghues were yelling and cheering and wiping away happy tears at the end of it all. What a day, what a day. Couldn’t be happier for Ronnie and this win!
No headlines anymore but… awesome nov, Monique. Speechless
Hi buddies!! It was a pleasure to comment on this blog. I had the feeling that all together we could push ronnie to his 6th title wc with our support as it was. I cannot be more happy. I am a spanish guy who never went to crucible but lover of snooker. I promised myself to be there next season first session if ronnie won. So i should try to make it possible. Even sometimes i saw you pessimistic i knew, somehow, ronnie could make it. As a microbiologist as I am i think that sars_cov2 virus has helped ronnie to this big achievement and all scarfs have been sealed, definitively. Thanks monique for this website which is one of my favorites! And good wishes to all of you! If u want something go for it and keep faith and believe on yourself as ronnie did. This is an example of fight and wish!!! Many thanks!!! Peter
Thank you Monique!
All with a victory! I am very happy! Thank you Ronnie for this joy!
I’m already on the champagne. It was so amazing and he was so many times dead and buried and still won it. It is an incredible feast and I feared it would never come. Thank you Monique for all he updates and everyone for words of encouragement and sympathy for each other and for our great champion.
Hello all, we did it. Thanks and goodbye till some other time, bless you and take care. Long live best sportsman of all time, Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan!
😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
WHAT AN INCREDIBLE EVENT FOR HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAGICAL THE WAY HE SURVIVED AGAINST DING, WILLIAMS, SELBY OH MY GOT
Thanks Monique for the informations, articles during the event and well done to Ronnie!!!!! Enjoy the moment!