Tour Championship: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Neil Robertson to become world number one

Ronnie O'Sullivan became world number one for the first time since 2010 by edging a thrilling Tour Championship final against Neil Robertson.

O'Sullivan led 5-3 overnight in Llandudno but Robertson had the better of Sunday's first session to reach 8-8.

He levelled again at 10-10 but never led and an 89 saw O'Sullivan win 13-11.

"To get to number one probably playing half the events some other guys do is probably one of the best achievements across sports," said O'Sullivan.

"I've never been driven by number one as if I was I'd probably enter a few more tournaments," added O'Sullivan, who overtakes Mark Selby at the top of the world rankings.

O'Sullivan's success also sees him tie with Stephen Hendry's record of 36 ranking titles.

'The Rocket' could surpass the mark at the World Championships in Sheffield, which begin on 20 April.

"Congratulations to Neil - him and Judd Trump have been the two best this season along with myself," he added. "If one of us doesn't win the World Championship I'll be surprised."

Earlier in March, O'Sullivan became the first man to reach 1,000 career centuries when he sealed a 10-4 win over Australia's Robertson in the Players Championship final.

They both won a session 5-3 to go into the final session in Llandudno at 8-8, and O'Sullivan signalled his intent with a 129 to edge ahead.

He was on the verge of victory at 12-10 but Robertson dug out a break of 56 to prolong matters until O'Sullivan produced an 89 before saluting the a jubilant crowd.

.view-comments-button-wrapped-component {display: block !important;} .view-comments-button-wrapper {display: none !important;}

Comments

Join the conversation

This entry is now closed for comments.

259 comments

@roythboy 240

In my haste I made a couple of errors.

I meant Stephen Hendry and Annika Sorenstam. I am sure you got my point
- being a winner is not the same as being a champion. IMO Woods & O'Sullivan are certainly winners but will never be champions.

Oh BTW my post number was 229 and not the 228 you referenced. Don"t worry I understand how easy it is to make a typing error!
If Ronnie is not playing I do not watch snooker 🎱

He is a living legend salute the Rocket shame his dad is a murderer ☠️
We all like our top sports stars being a little arrogant about their own skills, eh? Nice to see his confidence and interest come back proper. World Championship should be banging this year
The match could have been over much sooner if Ronnie had taken his chances because he was in first in most of the frames and kept running out of position. However, Robertson played excellently and given all the travelling he did with the new baby he put up a great battle.
Ronnie deserves where he is on current form and glad he's still around for the public to enjoy. Watch him while you can.
The G.O.A.T for sure...To handle depression and some of the stuff he has dealt with takes some doing...He could go on for years yet...Stephan Fry was asked if he could have his life again without his bipolar would he take it.."not for all the tea in China" he said...because when yr up...yr up...I wonder if it helps his snooker?
Let’s be clear. Ronnie O’Sullivan is a genius and without doubt the best snooker player ever to draw breath. We are privileged to be able to watch him play, because his like will not be around for a very long time. As for SPOTY, it’s long past its sell-by date - lost in its own self indulgent and largely irrelevant PC prism.
@252

Totally agree with your points and just to be absolutely clear, I am not having a go at Ronnie. He is working smart and his prize money and world ranking speaks for itself. I would rather see less tournaments in the snooker calendar but of the highest quality, staged in high quality venues rather than sub-standard non-events such as the Gibraltar Open or the Indian Open just to name two.
249 - fair enough but I think Hearn is in a dilemma and there is no easy answer.
He is seeking to grow the game and provide more tournaments with good prize money.
Unfortunately, places like China don't want 3 tourneys, back to back, so players are not happy with all the travelling (cost and time)
RoS' answer is to pick and choose, others don''t have this luxury.
That should be their target
well done ronnie..a tremendous win against a very good opponant... if theres was anybody id put my life on the line for in this world it would be ronnie to win a frame of snooker.what a splendid tournament and what a relief from crying screaming diving miserable footballers to see some real sportsmanship..well done lads.
Probably the most remarkable aspect of Ronnie's dominance is the fact that he's 43.

In the modern era, no one has come close to matching this.
Davis was finished in his 30s and Hendry retired at 43, a shadow of the player he was.

And for all those who are disputing that snooker's a sport, one of the reasons Ronnie can still perform to this standard is that he's extremely physically fit.