Ronnie has beaten Stephen Maguire by 5-2 today and here are the scores:

Despite the win, and the two centuries, Ronnie is not optimistic about the future and he made that clear in this interview with Phil Haigh:

Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis retirement advice

Ronnie O’Sullivan can see himself retiring from snooker in 2028 after taking advice from fellow legends Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

The Rocket is into the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open this week, still winning matches at 50 years old, but increasingly frustrated with his own performances.

The seven-time world champion has beaten Ashley Carty, Yao Pengcheng and Stephen Maguire in Wuhan, but does not have high hopes of continuing that run when he meets Mark Selby in the last eight.

Asked if he could win the tournament this week, O’Sullivan told a post-match press conference: ‘No. Absolutely no chance. I was happy to win a match. When I won two matches I was over the moon. To win three, for me, was a miracle at the moment. I’ve probably gone as far as I can go.

‘If anybody plays well against me, they win, it doesn’t matter where they’re ranked. If they play poorly then I have a chance, but I don’t expect anyone from now to play poorly.

‘My game is now very, very poor. I’m not playing to a good enough level. My technique is so rubbish I don’t have a clue where the balls are going, it’s like hit and hope snooker. I’m delighted to have won three matches, I can’t believe it really.

I just hope for some improvement in the future. I’m playing more for the future, to hopefully find something.’

Having just beaten Maguire 5-2 with two centuries along the way, O’Sullivan was asked if he was just being modest, but said he is quite the opposite.

‘No, I’m definitely not modest,’ he said. ‘I’m just telling the truth. I have very, very bad technical issues. I don’t even know where the balls are going. I know they go in, but I don’t even know. I can’t explain it.’

O’Sullivan turns 51 in December and feels he has been struggling for form and comfort at the table for at least three years.

He says he has spoken to Hendry and Davis about the latter stages of their careers and does not want to do as they did.

‘I asked Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis, I spoke to them a couple of times and they said they probably played 10 years longer than they should have done,’ said the Rocket. ‘Because you always have this feeling, I want to play like I used to, because it’s a nice feeling.

‘I’m not going to waste 10 years. I’ve wasted three or four, in my opinion, three or four years where it’s been not great.

‘I’ll give myself another year-and-a-half, to see if I can find something. If I can’t I think it’s good to draw a line under it and move on to other things that are more suitable to me.’

Davis did keep playing for quite a while after his best, retiring in 2016, six years after his last Crucible appearance and 19 years after his last major title at the 1997 Masters.

Hendry was still a force when he retired in 2012, hanging up his cue immediately after a quarter-final defeat at the World Championship, having made a 147 in that event.

However, it was seven years after his last ranking title, which came at the 2005 Malta Cup.

O’Sullivan’s last ranking title came in January 2024 and he says he has little hope of regaining the form that could see him add to his tally of 41 triumphs.

‘I don’t really have much hope to regain the level I was at before,’ he said. ‘I know I can play that well but when you have really bad technical issues, if you can fix the obviously I’d be much more optimistic about the future, but I just don’t think they are able to be fixed, especially at this stage of my career.

‘Maybe 10-15 years ago I could have had the time to do it. I just don’t have the time to see it through, maybe. I give myself 18 months, until the end of the 2028 World Championship to see if I can get somewhere back to how I used to hit the ball.

‘If I can hit the ball half decent then I can still win tournaments. But as it stands it’s pretty ugly out there for me and maybe ugly for you guys to watch me play. That’s where I’m at with it, I’ve always been a bit of a realist.’

And, here is the report by WST:

Wuhan Open Day Four: Selby And O’Sullivan Set Up Showdown

Mark Selby held off a Pang Junxu fightback to prevail 5-4 and book a mouth-watering quarter-final clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Wuhan Open. 

Full Scores/Schedule

Tomorrow’s meeting will be the first between the pair since 2024, when Selby whitewashed O’Sullivan 6-0 at the Players Championship. They’ve met in finals of all three of snooker’s Triple Crown events, as well as many other high profile contests, and seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan leads the overall head-to-head 17-12. 

A subplot this week for Selby sees him in a four-way race, alongside Judd Trump, Zhao Xintong and Neil Robertson, for the world number one spot. He knows that he must win the event to move to the summit of the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings, a position he held for four consecutive years between 2015 and 2019.

The Jester from Leicester looked in for a comfortable afternoon today, when he raced to a 4-1 advantage. However, the tenacious Pang reeled him in and forced a decider. Four-time Crucible king Selby showed his class and made a match-winning 63 to get over the line. 

“I’ve played Ronnie so many times in big matches and big finals. When you play someone like Ronnie, you don’t know how long he is going to carry on playing. Every time you do face him you have to cherish it,” said 43-year-old Selby.

“As a young lad all you want to do is be World Champion and world number one. Fortunately I’ve done both. I’d love to try and get back there. It has been a while as Judd has been dominating. I’m in with a shout this week.“

O’Sullivan has been frustrated with his game all week, but so far has only lost five frames. He defeated former UK Champion Stephen Maguire 5-2 today, but after the match when asked about his chances of taking home the trophy he dismissed the notion. 

“No. Absolutely no chance,” said 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan. “I was happy to win a match. When I won two matches I was over the moon. To win three, for me, was a miracle at the moment. I’ve probably gone as far as I can go.“

Current world number one Trump must win the title to have an opportunity to retain his status at the summit. He beat Si Jiahui 5-1 today and now faces Chang Bingyu, who was a 5-2 winner against Ali Carter. 

2025 World Champion Zhao Xintong is in pole position for the world number one race, with Neil Robertson in second spot. They now face each other in a crucial showdown tomorrow. Zhao beat Barry Hawkins 5-3 to get to the quarters, while Robertson beat Liam Davies 5-3. 

Mark Williams defeated Welsh compatriot Daniel Wells 5-2 to book his quarter-final slot. He now faces back-to-back defending champion Xiao Guodong, who won 5-3 against Chris Wakelin. 

In other news…

• Former snooker professional Graeme Dott has been convicted for child abuse. As a result, WST has issued this statement. It’s an awful story really, and I will come back to it after the current tournament has concluded. Meanwhile I will only say this: I’m horrified and terribly sorry for his (ex ?) wife and their children. I can’t imagine what they are going through.
• Mark Allen has withdrawn from more tournaments. This brings memories from the time, some ten years ago, when he also withdrew from a whole range of tournaments, sometimes even when already being at the airport with Terry Griffiths, ready to travel but finding himself unable to board the plane. Such was the state and severity of his depression and anxiety. I do hope that he’s not suffering from a relapse …