Ronnie won the 2023 Shanghai Masters beating Luca Brecel by 11-9.
Congratulations Ronnie!
Ronnie has now won this title four times in a row, and five times in total. He’s undefeated at this event since 2017. Since the event has become invitational, he’s won all the finals by the same score: 11-9.
Here are the detailed scores (source: snooker.org)
Luca was the heaviest scorer during the match, although it was Ronnie who made the highest break of the match, and of the tournament, the 143 he scored in frame 16.
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan emerged from the opening session of the Shanghai Masters final leading World Champion Luca Brecel 6-4.
The clash is a meeting between world number one O’Sullivan and the world number two Brecel. The last time they faced each other was at the Crucible last year, when Brecel scored a 13-10 win and went on to capture a stunning maiden world title. He rallied from 10-6 down in the final session of that match and will be hoping for a similar turnaround this evening.
O’Sullivan is aiming for a fourth straight Shanghai Masters title and will require five more frames to do that in tonight’s concluding session. The winner of this best of 21 final will earn a £210,000 top prize.
When play got underway this afternoon O’Sullivan took the opening frame, before a sublime break of 134 from Brecel saw him restore parity at 1-1. Despite that moment of magic, it was the Rocket who took the following two frames to lead 3-1 at the mid-session.
After the break, Brecel imposed his break building power on proceedings and fired in contributions of 75, 98 and 103 to take three on the bounce and earn a 4-3 advantage. The tie then swung back in O’Sullivan’s favour, with the seven-time World Champion taking three in a row, including a break of 75, to end 6-4 in front.
World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan won a fourth straight Shanghai Masters title, beating World Champion Luca Brecel 11-9 in a thrilling final.
The Rocket is unbeaten in the city for seven years, with his last defeat coming at the hands of Michael Holt back in 2016. The Englishman’s winning streak in the event now stands at 19 matches.
O’Sullivan won the title in consecutive years between 2017 and 2019, beating Judd Trump, Barry Hawkins and Shaun Murphy in the respective finals. He has a total of five Shanghai Masters crowns to his name, having also been victorious in 2009, and is the standout player in the tournament’s history.
Today’s final was the latest edition of what could become the defining rivalry in modern snooker. Earlier this year 28-year-old Brecel produced a devastating burst to beat O’Sullivan 13-10 from 10-6 behind at the Crucible, where he would go on to capture his maiden world title. O’Sullivan got his revenge today and now leads the head-to-head standings between the pair 4-2.
Victory sees O’Sullivan pocket the £210,000 top prize with Brecel earning £105,000 as the runner-up. However, with the event being an invitational tournament it doesn’t count towards the world rankings and seven-time Crucible king O’Sullivan’s lead over world number two Brecel remains a slender £5,000.
O’Sullivan has had to show his battling qualities this week, most notably rallying from 5-2 down to beat John Higgins 6-5 in the quarter-finals. He needed to dig deep again in the afternoon session today, emerging 6-4 ahead after trailing 4-3.
The opening frame of the evening saw Brecel apply pressure with a break of 65 to make it 6-5. O’Sullivan immediately restored his two frame cushion by winning the 12th, but it was Brecel who then crafted breaks of 55 and 56 to head into the mid-session all-square at 7-7.
When play resumed O’Sullivan produced a devastating burst for the finish line. He fired in breaks of 143 and 120 on his way to three in a row, leaving him one from the title at 10-7.
The 39-time ranking event winner had opportunities to get over the line in a dramatic 18th frame, but Brecel eventually extended the tie with a stunning table length double on the final black to make it 10-8.
The Belgian then strung together 83 to pull with a single frame at 10-9. The 20th frame was another tense one, but this time O’Sullivan did get the job done on the blue to secure the title.
“I just tried hard. I mentally thought that plan A was to go out there, dominate and score breaks. Plan B was to keep my focus and emotions in check. I tried not to lose it out of frustration. It was one of those tournaments. I was well below par, but in moments I played alright when I had to. I wasn’t on auto pilot, everything was a bit of a struggle from start to finish,” said 47-year-old O’Sullivan.
“When you are in the sweet spot and hitting the ball well it feels like an easy game. It feels like you can do what you want on the table. When you aren’t, you get scared of even coming to the table. It is frightening. This game can be so difficult some days and others it can be so easy. I’ve gone two or three years without feeling that I’d missed a ball. I was flying. There were some balls out there that I was missing and I was laughing to myself.
“I’m not surprised Luca has done as well as he has. He’s not a surprise World Champion. He’s got an amazing gift to play this game. The performance he put on in Sheffield was unbelievable. He has improved a lot as a player and he loves the game. He has his girlfriend here with him and they seem to be having a great time. I wish I was at his stage of his career. He is a young man with a lot of years ahead of him. Snooker is getting bigger in China so it is a good time to be a professional snooker player.”
Meanwhile here are some pictures shared on twitter and Weibo
What this shows is that when Ronnie is fully up for it, he’s still a formidable player. This week he showed an iron will to win. He has won everything there is to win in his sport, he has broken almost every record. He is 47 years old and this season is his 32d as a professional, so it is understandable that he finds it hard to get fully motivated for every event, and we should accept that. But this is an elite tournament, played in a city he loves, in front of a huge, enthusiast crowd for every match. This is the kind of event that gets his juices flowing. We should enjoy those moments as we don’t know how many more the future will bring.Thank you Ronnie!
Here is the last frame of the match as shared by ES on YouTube
And this is what Ronnie had to say on twitter after the match:
Wow, what a few days!! To win my fifth Shanghai Masters is something I’m really proud of. And to have won playing such a talented player in Luca, means a lot. Thank you to all the fans and everyone out here for your support, it doesn’t go unnoticed. ❤️
10 thoughts on “Ronnie is the 2023 Shanghai Masters Champion!”
It was indeed a fine event. The final wasn’t the highest quality we have ever seen, but it was engaging. Brecel was quite close to making it 10-10, but overall he just made too many mistakes in the match. In addition to the players we saw top-class refereeing, decent production and a wonderful crowd. I think Fergal O’Brien was fine in commentary, as were the other more established voices.
As I have said, the format remains slightly problematic. Only Fan Zhengyi, with wins over Gary Wilson and Mark Allen, was able to produce any shocks for the invited Chinese players, and most of the first round matches were uncompetitive. This might be better in future years, but a proper qualification event seems better that awards based on ranking or ‘wildcard’ nomination. But generally, we need more tournaments of this kind of capacity, particularly outside the UK. Unfortunately that doesn’t fit WST’s chosen tour structure.
Ronnie’s outstanding record in Shanghai is no accident. He likes the big events with superior venues and limited field. He’s also the most adaptable player, which is a vital asset given the unusual conditions.
Ronnie won six out of six scrappier frames (no 50+ break) against a more heavily scoring Brecel, which proved decisive in the final. That certainly came as a surprise to me. Congrats!
Here’s to the Chinese TV team, who didn’t seem to think that hysterically changing camera perspectives every other second makes for good snooker viewing. Also, those behind the cameras seemed to possess an understanding of snooker somewhat exceeding “Them balls in them holes!” Also of note, there was none of endlessly putting the close-up of players’ mugs on display. All in all, that was a very, very, very welcome respite from the unnerving antics so prevalent in European tournaments.
I liked it when they zoomed in on the table when the play was ongoing in a certain area for some time, to see how exactly the cue ball was hit.
How amazing that this event is nearly the same as the 2019 Shanghai for Ronnie:
trailed 1-5 in 2019 Shanghai QF, trailed 2-5 in 2023 Shanghai QF. The final results were 6-5.
Semi-final: 5-4 behind after the first half but just won comfortably (10-6 in 2019, 10-7 in 2023).
And just like in 2019 final from 7-7 to 10-7, opponent pulled back from 7-10 to 9-10 before Ronnie won the title match by 11-9
Just wow!
What a way to win.
All of the last 3 Shanghai Masters final was 11-9 for Ronnie AND every time he was 10-7 up only his opponent came back from 7-10 to 9-10 and every time Ronnie finished the match in frame 20.
Very hard draw and very hard fought victories!
Well done Ronnie and welcome back!
Ronnie made only 18 50+ breaks this week, compared to 25 by his opponents.
Amazingly, he managed to win 13 of the 15 frames that didn’t include a 50+ break…
Congrats, Ronnie! It was not a particularly high quality final despite the excitement and the twists and turns, with many mistakes and misses, and in the first part of the second session I didn’t like Ronnie’s body language very much, but happy he came back great after the MSI and pulled through. Happy he started with a title and he did not play anyone this week to whom a loss would have been anything but disappointing and unfortunate. The way he came back to beat Higgins, stepped it up for Selby and did not let Brecel get the better of him was very sweet.
Indeed. Actually I have not seen a particularly high quality match all week. I believe that the humid conditions played a role here.
I do agree. Many, many factors played a role this week, which led to the triumph. Because for me, Ronnie looked tired many times, or at least fatigued by the heat. But firstly it was the venue he loves playing in, secondly it was the order of opponents (he just out of pure respect never doesn’t try against Higgins, has a bit of a rivalry against Selby, and seeking revenge against Luca) and third the humid conditions probably prevented the likes of Robertson, Trump etc. from performing at the highest level. Again, he could have done with the ranking points, he said it many times now he lacks of motivation, we will certainly see more harakiri snooker from him this season than he showed in this tournament, in which he played a reckless at times as well.
Yes, the conditions at this time of year in Shanghai are always challenging. Of course, it’s been 4 years since they last did this, so a little more adaptation was required by some.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
It was indeed a fine event. The final wasn’t the highest quality we have ever seen, but it was engaging. Brecel was quite close to making it 10-10, but overall he just made too many mistakes in the match. In addition to the players we saw top-class refereeing, decent production and a wonderful crowd. I think Fergal O’Brien was fine in commentary, as were the other more established voices.
As I have said, the format remains slightly problematic. Only Fan Zhengyi, with wins over Gary Wilson and Mark Allen, was able to produce any shocks for the invited Chinese players, and most of the first round matches were uncompetitive. This might be better in future years, but a proper qualification event seems better that awards based on ranking or ‘wildcard’ nomination. But generally, we need more tournaments of this kind of capacity, particularly outside the UK. Unfortunately that doesn’t fit WST’s chosen tour structure.
Ronnie’s outstanding record in Shanghai is no accident. He likes the big events with superior venues and limited field. He’s also the most adaptable player, which is a vital asset given the unusual conditions.
Ronnie won six out of six scrappier frames (no 50+ break) against a more heavily scoring Brecel, which proved decisive in the final. That certainly came as a surprise to me. Congrats!
Here’s to the Chinese TV team, who didn’t seem to think that hysterically changing camera perspectives every other second makes for good snooker viewing. Also, those behind the cameras seemed to possess an understanding of snooker somewhat exceeding “Them balls in them holes!” Also of note, there was none of endlessly putting the close-up of players’ mugs on display. All in all, that was a very, very, very welcome respite from the unnerving antics so prevalent in European tournaments.
I liked it when they zoomed in on the table when the play was ongoing in a certain area for some time, to see how exactly the cue ball was hit.
How amazing that this event is nearly the same as the 2019 Shanghai for Ronnie:
trailed 1-5 in 2019 Shanghai QF, trailed 2-5 in 2023 Shanghai QF. The final results were 6-5.
Semi-final: 5-4 behind after the first half but just won comfortably (10-6 in 2019, 10-7 in 2023).
And just like in 2019 final from 7-7 to 10-7, opponent pulled back from 7-10 to 9-10 before Ronnie won the title match by 11-9
Just wow!
What a way to win.
All of the last 3 Shanghai Masters final was 11-9 for Ronnie AND every time he was 10-7 up only his opponent came back from 7-10 to 9-10 and every time Ronnie finished the match in frame 20.
Very hard draw and very hard fought victories!
Well done Ronnie and welcome back!
Ronnie made only 18 50+ breaks this week, compared to 25 by his opponents.
Amazingly, he managed to win 13 of the 15 frames that didn’t include a 50+ break…
Congrats, Ronnie! It was not a particularly high quality final despite the excitement and the twists and turns, with many mistakes and misses, and in the first part of the second session I didn’t like Ronnie’s body language very much, but happy he came back great after the MSI and pulled through. Happy he started with a title and he did not play anyone this week to whom a loss would have been anything but disappointing and unfortunate. The way he came back to beat Higgins, stepped it up for Selby and did not let Brecel get the better of him was very sweet.
Indeed. Actually I have not seen a particularly high quality match all week. I believe that the humid conditions played a role here.
I do agree. Many, many factors played a role this week, which led to the triumph. Because for me, Ronnie looked tired many times, or at least fatigued by the heat. But firstly it was the venue he loves playing in, secondly it was the order of opponents (he just out of pure respect never doesn’t try against Higgins, has a bit of a rivalry against Selby, and seeking revenge against Luca) and third the humid conditions probably prevented the likes of Robertson, Trump etc. from performing at the highest level. Again, he could have done with the ranking points, he said it many times now he lacks of motivation, we will certainly see more harakiri snooker from him this season than he showed in this tournament, in which he played a reckless at times as well.
Yes, the conditions at this time of year in Shanghai are always challenging. Of course, it’s been 4 years since they last did this, so a little more adaptation was required by some.