‘A little technical change’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals mid-match tweak that inspired win over Mark Selby

Shanghai Masters defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan revealed a technical change helped him to victory over Mark Selby in Friday’s semi-final.

O’Sullivan is the reigning champion at the tournament, which has not been played since 2019 largely due to disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the lengthy restrictions imposed by the host country.

After the afternoon session, Selby held a 5-4 lead over his opponent, and in the evening’s play, O’Sullivan moved to level the scores at 6-6.

Selby then hit a break of 77 and threatened to go two ahead until a missed pink allowed O’Sullivan back in to level once more.

While the pair had been able to go toe to toe until that point, O’Sullivan would secure the next three frames, and victory, with breaks of 69, 109 and 118, and the fourth frame win in a row saw O’Sullivan through to Sunday’s final.

Speaking after his win, he explained that he had made a change to his approach as he searched for better form.

“The start of the match wasn’t so good,” he conceded. “Until 6-5 and 6-6 I was struggling a bit.

“I tried to hang in there and made a little technical change. I thought I had to try something and find some form.

“I changed my alignment and my shoulder to get closed and more on line to control the white. It was difficult, but I was pleased to find some form at the end.”

O’Sullivan has often admitted that his commitment to snooker comes intermittently, despite his obvious talent at the table.

He explained that being able to make some changes comes, in part, from his levels of motivation.

He continued: “I’ve learned so much over the years (on the mental side of the game), that I know what to do. It is just whether I can be bothered to do it all of the time. Sometimes it is hard to be giving 100% all of the time. I’ve been doing this for 40 years so you get tired and the motivation is not the same as when you are younger. I accept that and it does get harder to keep doing it.

“I’ll have some nice dim sum tomorrow and maybe go for hot pot with friends, watch the snooker on the TV and relax. I’m doing some filming for Tik Tok tomorrow. Everyone likes Tik Tok in China so I will have to do some filming tomorrow.”