‘They still can’t beat me’: Ageless Ronnie O’Sullivan breezes into Masters final
Ronnie O'Sullivan powered his way through the semi-finals of the Masters, securing a 6-2 victory against Shaun Murphy. In the aftermath, he challenged the up-and-coming snooker stars to improve their skills and give him a proper challenge.
At 48 years of age, the snooker player is near to becoming the oldest person to win the Triple Crown event. He claimed victory over his long-time rival Murphy with the help of four half-century breaks. The two had not played against each other in five years. The current record for the oldest winner is held by Stuart Bingham, who was 43 years and 243 days old when he won the event in 2017. The snooker player has not been able to secure a win in the event since 2016.
During the semi-final, Murphy skillfully completed two amazing breaks with over 100 points scored, with one of them being a whopping 131 points achieved in the third frame. However, O'Sullivan's daring and risky method of playing paid off immensely. He managed to successfully hit a plethora of red balls which left the audience at Alexandra Palace ecstatic and thrilled.
"I may know my age, but I don't think I'm that old," BBC heard the words of O'Sullivan, who became the youngest Masters winner. "For me, I still feel like I have a young mind, and that feeling only enhances when I'm playing snooker."
When I sit at the table with younger players, I feel more youthful. However, I find these young players appear older and their mental processes seem slower than mine. As a result, my mind feels sharp when I'm playing snooker, which suffices. I think these young players need to improve their game because I am dealing with vision loss, a problematic arm, and sore knees and they still can't emerge victorious against me!
In their initial Masters meeting, Murphy accepted his loss gracefully. He remarked that his opponent, Ronnie, was just too exceptional and if he continues to play at that level, he is undoubtedly going to win the championship.
