Five-time champion Ronnie O’Sullivan ended Chinese star Ding Junhui’s world championship dream on Sunday at a Crucible Theatre venue he described as a “morgue” due to the ban on spectators.
The mercurial
44-year-old Englishman won an enthralling high-quality second-round encounter
13-10 to set up a quarter-final clash with three-time champion Mark Williams.
O’Sullivan – who
will be bidding for a first semi-final appearance since losing to Mark Selby in
the 2014 final – said playing in front of an empty auditorium was an
unrewarding experience.
There were meant to
be 300 fans allowed in for each session but the pilot scheme was cancelled by
the government on the first day of the championships because of new concerns
over the coronavirus.
“It is better with
the fans, of course it is,” O’Sullivan told the BBC.
“It is like playing
in a morgue out there. It feels like a village at the moment, the players are
much more relaxed, for the top players it can be a nightmare.”
O’Sullivan admitted
he needed to pull himself together as he battled to focus properly.
“I am just glad I
found a way to try and compete with my mind out there,” he said.
“For a while I have
been going out and slapping the ball about having fun, not caring if I won or
lost.
“Deep down I do
care but treat it like a bit of fun.”
‘Don’t really get
on’
Earlier Australia’s
2010 world champion Neil Robertson set up an enticing quarter-final with
three-time winner Selby after completing an impressive 13-9 victory over Barry
Hawkins.
The 38-year-old
made short work of Hawkins in their final session having begun it locked at
8-8.
He won five of the
six frames to clinch a place in the quarter-finals for the eighth time.
Selby will be a
formidable opponent but, with three titles this season, world number two
Robertson will not be lacking in confidence as he seeks to reach his first
world final since his stunning success a decade ago.
Selby won their
only previous meeting in the championships, getting the better of ‘The Thunder
from Down Under’ 17-15 in the 2014 semi-finals.
Robertson said he
had few concerns about facing Selby as his “expectations are very high” for the
tournament.
Robertson said the
virus-prompted shift from the tournament’s usual April date meant playing
conditions were very different.
“The table is
playing very heavy, it is very humid out there and it does not feel like
playing at Sheffield.
“It feels like
playing in Asia and it is tough to screw the ball back.”
Kyren Wilson will
play defending champion Judd Trump in the last eight after he beat fellow
Englishman Martin Gould 13-9.
Their clash looks
sure to be a feisty affair with Trump saying last year the pair “don’t speak”
and “don’t really get on”.
The quarter-final
line-up was completed when Anthony McGill booked his first appearance in the
last eight since 2015 after a tense 13-12 win over fellow qualifier Jamie
Clarke.
The pair had been
involved in a furious exchange on Saturday when McGill accused the Welshman of
deliberately standing in his line of sight.
Scotland’s McGill
prevailed via a snooker behind the brown after both players had missed good
chances to seal the nervous final-frame decider and will play Norwegian Kurt
Maflin for a place in the semi-finals.
