Ronnie Wins Battle of Crowd Favourites
Ronnie O’Sullivan overcame Jimmy White by three-frames-to-one to reach the last 16 of the 12Bet.com World Open at the SECC in Glasgow.
O’Sullivan, fresh from making his tenth 147 maximum in his opening match looked a bit lacklustre early on, but managed to win a scrappy opening frame with a highest break of 42.
In the second, The Rocket made a couple of unforced errors but got lucky, leaving Jimmy nothing straight forward to go at. Eventually the three time world champion found his rhythm and cleared with 79 to move within one frame of victory.
In the third, White finally got a chance in amongst the balls and rolled back the years, making a frame winning 88 break and half his deficit.
An early mistake in the fourth was punished by White and a fluent break of 56 put the Whirlwind within sight of a deciding frame.
White’s upturn in form seemed only to focus the O’Sullivan mind and cue action, and when he got a chance he made it count with a match-winning effort of 80.
O'Sullivan, often criticised for his outspoken and unpredictable actions on and off the table seemed happy with the result and with his overall performance, despite "missing some really bad balls."
Speaking on the BBC, he said "It's always nice playing against Jimmy because he is so good to watch".
Ronnie’s win sets up the match-of-the-round in the last 16 against Stephen Hendry, which he and everyone look are looking forward to.
"It will be good to play Stephen, he is my hero. He took the game to a different level and smashed opponents up, he is a legend"
