Ronnie booked his place into the QFs yesterday afternoon in York, despite being far from his best.

Here is WST report about that session:

O’Sullivan Edges Milkins In Decider

World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan came through a nervy final frame to beat Robert Milkins 6-5 and make the quarter-finals of the MrQ UK Championship in York.

Victory extends the Rocket’s perfect record against Milkins, in which he leads the head-to-head standings 9-0. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story of a match where O’Sullivan missed a number of uncharacteristic shots and found himself on the cusp of a shock exit.

O’Sullivan has boosted his chances of remaining world number one at the end of the week with victory. Had he lost this afternoon, Judd Trump would have only needed to win his next game to usurp the seven-time World Champion.

Remarkably the win sees O’Sullivan make the 140th ranking event quarter-final of his glittering career. The Essex cueman’s hunt for an eighth UK title will continue with a clash against China’s Zhou Yuelong tomorrow.

Both players missed opportunities in the opening two frames, but it was Milkins who took them to earn a 2-0 advantage. O’Sullivan then clicked into gear and contributions of 86, 53 and 142 helped him to four on the bounce and a 4-2 advantage.

Milkins showed his class by clawing himself back within a frame, before O’Sullivan moved to the verge of victory at 5-3. A break of 120 saw Milkins reduce his arrears and he then took a nervy tenth to force a decider. The first two chances in the final frame fell the way of Milkins, but he failed to capitalise. The Gloucester cueman wasn’t afforded a third, with O’Sullivan getting himself over the line.

“Rob has played great over the last two years. He’s improved as a match player. He is harder to play now than he ever was. I’m pleased to get through but my cue action isn’t great. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t feel my backswing. It is just the way it is for me. It’s been like that for 30 years and that is what torments me. Sometimes I can’t make eight out there and others I can’t miss. It is a crazy game,” said 39-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan.

“I just try anything. You want to see the notes I’ve got in my phone. I just try hard and try mentally to stay in there and enjoy the battle. Try to squeeze as much juice out of this tournament as I can. I don’t want to sabotage it because I was good at that. You have to get lucky.”

On the other table, Zhou came through with a 6-3 victory over Scotland’s two-time UK Champion John Higgins.

Zhou fired in breaks of 65, 86, 52 and 63 en route to victory. It’s the second time the Chengdu cueman has made the quarters of the UK Championship. He was a beaten semi-finalist back in 2020 against eventual champion Neil Robertson.

The BBC also reports on Ronnie’s frustration with the state of his game

…

“I had to grind out another win for my sins. It’s a crazy game, it still torments me after 30 years,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport. 

“I thought he deserved to win. I couldn’t feel anything, I was just all over the show. I haven’t got a clue any more, I don’t understand how this game works. 

“I gave up a long time ago, I just keep turning up and stinking out gaffs. I stunk it out today and I’ll probably stink it out tomorrow.”

…

“Mentally it’s hard for me. I’m not going to kill myself out there, but I still want to play,” added O’Sullivan, who has never lost to Milkins in a ranking tournament.

“I just can’t be bothered any more. I just don’t want it bad enough, that’s the problem.

“I’m having to dig deep, whereas when I was younger I didn’t have to did deep and I was so hungry.

“Now I don’t really care any more. Competitive sport is really hard, it’s not always about how good you are, it’s about how much you want it.”

…

As usual the whole article focuses on the “can’t be bothered” quotes when, Ronnie’s frustration, anger at himself and persistence during the match actually show the opposite. But of course “controversy”, no matter how artificial, sells.

Anyway… here are some videos, shared by ES on YouTube:

And some pictures…

I can understand why after 30 years at the top of the game it’s difficult to cope with the inevitable decline. The seventh World title was a colossal effort and Ronnie needed a break after that, but it becomes increasingly hard to come back to your best after a rather extended break when you get older. What angers me when it comes to the media attitude is that they attempt to picture Ronnie’s reaction as controversial when, with emotions running high just after the match, he was just expressing his frustration at a bad performance and that very frustration just proves that he actually cares.

Zhou Yuelong is next for Ronnie and that won’t be easy because Zhou is playing really well, and he is fresh and hungry. As briefly reported above, he beat John Higgins rather easily.

And this is WST report on the evening session:

Victorious Vafaei Storms To Quarters

Iran’s Hossein Vafaei earned a place in the quarter-finals of the MrQ UK Championship for the first time with a 6-1 defeat of Matthew Selt in York.

Victory sees Vafaei keep his hopes of qualifying for the Masters alive. Vafaei will secure his place at Alexandra Palace if he wins his quarter-final against Zhang Anda and Ding Junhui loses his against Mark Williams.

Having come through two rounds of qualifying and scored an impressive 6-4 win over Shaun Murphy in the opening round, Vafaei will feel confident of mounting a title charge. He’s aiming to be the first Iranian winner of a regulation format tournament. Vafaei is already the first ranking event winner from his country, having won the Shoot Out in 2022.

The world number 18 has enjoyed success in York before, having knocked four-time World Champion Mark Selby out in each of the previous two years. On both occasions he bowed out in the last 16, but tonight’s display sees him go one step further.

In a sensational showing of break building, Vafaei hammered home runs of 132, 94, 56, 133 and 121 on his way to an emphatic victory.

“I played fantastic today. It couldn’t be any better than that. I started like a dream. Everyone dreams of starting a match like that. I felt really good and playing like that in front of big fans in the York Barbican is an amazing feeling,” said 29-year-old Vafaei.

“It is so enjoyable. You can’t explain that or teach that. I enjoyed tonight a lot. I scored really heavily and as a player you dream of performing like that in an event like the UK Championship.

“It is just a matter of time. I am from a different country and I need to learn lots of different things to compete with legends. It is tough to get to that level, but I am getting there.

“It would be amazing. If I go all the way it is good for the game, it is good for snooker in the middle east, it is good for all of the players and the snooker market. Something would happen after I won and you would have Dubai open, Saudi open and Qatar open. It is going to happen soon I’m sure.”

On the other table, Zhang scored an impressive 6-4 win over World Champion Luca Brecel to book his place in the last eight.

Zhang is enjoying the season of his career so far, having won the International Championship earlier this month, where he made a 147 in the final and beat Tom Ford 10-6 to capture the title. He was also runner-up to Judd Trump at the English Open.

With the scores locked level at 4-4 this evening, Zhang summoned an impressive burst for the line. Breaks of 124 and 68 gave him two on the bounce and saw him wrap up the win.

I can’t really comment, I didn’t see any of it. I’m not surprised by either result though. Vafaei never lacks confidence and that’s a big asset. Zhang’s win over Luca doesn’t surprise me either given how the season has gone for both of them so far.