Ronnie O’Sullivan feeling close to best again after ‘two years of filth’, calls out ‘midnight’ Mark Selby

Ronnie O’Sullivan admits he is feeling close to his best again after a convincing whitewash victory over John Higgins at the Riyadh Season World Masters.

“I felt really comfortable over the shot,” O’Sullivan said on Eurosport.

“It’s the first time in a while. I’ve felt OK the last few weeks in practice. Two years of absolute filth and I’m starting to feel alright again. It’s been a long time.

“That’s the worst part about my job, having to play. Getting away, going to the gym, eating good food, chilling out, watching Netflix. When you’re playing OK, it’s alright. When you’re playing absolute filth, you’re like, ‘oh no’ – it’s embarrassing sometimes.

“I don’t drink, I don’t go out partying so this is a great place for me, this kind of place. In the UK, it’s all pubs and drinking.”

All of Tuesday’s matches ran late due to the lengthy first contest between Mark Selby and Mark Allen, with the former claiming a dramatic 4-3 win.

“I call him Midnight Selby now because all his games go past midnight,” O’Sullivan joked.

“It’s a nightmare. You don’t want to be following Mark because you go into the next day.

“It’s the top players playing against each other, so you’re always going to get good games, unless it’s Mark and Mark today.

“It was a bit of a drag, wasn’t it? Even Mark Allen said after: ‘That was tough!'”

The semi-finals begin at 14:00 UK time with a match-up between world champion Luca Brecel and Allen, before O’Sullivan’s clash against Trump.

Trump’s quarter-final match was much less straightforward following a 4-3 win over Shaun Murphy, and he was full of praise for a player dubbed ‘The Magician’.

“It was a tough game. It’s probably one of the best performances that anyone’s ever played against me,” said Trump.

“Shaun was unbelievable. He didn’t really do a lot wrong. I was scrappy. I felt a bit nervy, to be fair. You never want to come to these places and go out first round.

“[I was thinking to myself] ‘what time’s the next flight?’ Obviously I was concerned. He was playing unbelievable. Even when I got back to 2-2, after that he was still playing really well. I didn’t feel fluent in amongst the balls. I was just scrapping for my life out there.

“The last frame I had a good chance early on, I was a bit twitchy and missed a shot with the rest. Sometimes you get punished, but today I didn’t.”