I won’t lie, I had a miserable day yesterday, and it’s not just the snooker stuff¹.

Yesterday Ronnie lost to Shaun Murphy, and lost heavily. He was whitewashed. Coming into that match, Ronnie and Shaun had played each other 21 times, Ronnie had won 16 of those matches, Shaun had won 4 of them and there was a draw as well. But that doesn’t counts for much when you are at the table, what really counts is what you produce on the day.

Yesterday, Shaun played well and Ronnie was poor, very poor. In the last frame, Ronnie looked like he could pull one back, until he missed a straightforward yellow in a middle pocket. We will probably never know with any certainty what actually happened, if he took it for granted and didn’t concentrate, if he was distracted by something in the audience, if he had a kick … and, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, only the match outcome matters.

In general, after a decent start, Ronnie has been poor this season. Of course, he has gone through significant changes in his life, getting married, moving to Dubai … maybe that are (part of) the reasons for the poor performances, or maybe, alas, it’s just natural decline. After all, he’s going to turn 50 in about two weeks time…

Here is the report shared by WST:

Riyadh Season Snooker Championship Day One

Shaun Murphy scored a rare whitewash over Ronnie O’Sullivan as he stormed into the quarter-finals of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship with a 4-0 victory in the Saudi Arabian capital. 

Murphy had lost his previous six meetings with O’Sullivan, a sequence stretching back to 2017, but this time dominated the tie in front of a capacity crowd. There was no glimpse of a possible 167 break and $1 million bonus but Murphy won’t mind as he can look forward to a clash with World Champion Zhao Xintong on Thursday night. 

Arguably the player of the season so far having won the British Open and reached the final of the Xi’an Grand Prix, Murphy was in fine form from the opening match today as he saw off Saudi Arabian wild card Ziyad Alqabbani 4-0 with top breaks of 128 and 109. His long potting was superb in round two as he outplayed O’Sullivan, who by comparison looked short of match sharpness.

Murphy’s break of 53 helped him take the opening frame, then in the second he got the better of a safety exchange on the last red, thumping it from distance into a baulk corner and clearing for 2-0. A run of 93 from world number nine Murphy made it 3-0, and in the fourth he built a 35-1 lead before running out of position. O’Sullivan had a chance to gain a foothold but made just 7 before missing a straight-forward yellow and Murphy’s run of 23 secured the result.

“I’m delighted, any win over Ronnie has to be celebrated,” said Murphy, who only earned a place in the field by reaching the final in Xi’an which was the last counting event. “I have been playing well all season and it has been fantastic to carry my form through. It was wonderful to come out and play in front of a great audience. Ronnie has been packing out arenas since he was 17, he draws a crowd everywhere. 

“I have a great team around me, my fiancée Jo is here, we have just got engaged. I feel I am riding the crest of a wave and I’ve got such a great life at home. I have always felt that your snooker reflects where you are in life and at the moment I couldn’t be happier.”

Murphy tops this season’s century breaks chart with 35 and the first player to reach 100 tons will earn a £100,000 bonus. He added: “I am a patron of Rainbows Children’s Hospice in Leicestershire where I donate £100 for every century, so last season I donated £5,800 and I would love to beat that total this season. I have never got to 100 and only two have done it (Judd Trump and Neil Robertson) so it would be a great to join that club, but there’s a long way to go.” 

John Higgins completed the quarter-final line up by beating Ding Junhui 4-0 on a day of whitewashes. Ding had enjoyed a 4-0 success against wild card Ayman Alamri with a top run of 84, but was well below his best against 50-year-old Higgins. After winning two fragmented frames, Scotland’s Higgins stepped up a gear and took the last two frames with a brace of breaks of 106. He now meets defending champion Mark Allen on Thursday.

There is no sign of decline for John Higgins obviously but then every person is different and age affects us differently as well.

What is certain though is that the conditions are not great and that’s an understatement. Ronnie didn’t complain, but John , who had won his match, was very critical in his postmatch, as reported by TNT Sport: he said that it’s ‘As if there’s beer mats under the table’ …

1. That wouldn’t be that bad … it’s only just a game after all ↩︎