Ronnie O’Sullivan secured his fourth ranking event title of the season and the 32nd of his illustrious career on Sunday night with victory at the 2018 World Grand Prix.
A comprehensive 10-3 final win over Ding Junhui was highlighted by a hat-trick of century breaks in the opening session and six frames on the spin which saw him cross the finish line. Throughout his week in Preston, this WGP success has showcased O’Sullivan’s modern-day mindset.
There was the supreme – clean sweep wins over Robert Milkins and Xiao Guodong in the Last 32 and 8 respectively. That Quarter-Final crushing of Xiao featured a staggering 99% pot success rate and four of his ten centuries in total. On the flip side, ‘The Rocket’ exhibited his fighting spirit, resolve and nerve to recover against Yan Bingtao in a decider during the Last 16 and Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals.
His meeting with Ding was the fifth time the pair had met in a major final. Since Ding’s success at the 2006 Northern Ireland Open, O’Sullivan had conquered in the three afterwards with a dominating frame aggregate of 26-7. However, their previous clash was at last season’s World Championship where the Asian came through in the Last 8. Ding was also buoyed by a return to form following a quiet few months since his World Open triumph in September. He sealed his spot in the final with a post-midnight 6-5 conclusion against Mark Selby.
The opening four frames in the final were shared, but 42-year-old O’Sullivan returned from the mid-session interval by constructing efforts of 124 and 105 to go 4-2 up. Ding responded by chalking up the seventh and was primed to go level again before narrowly missing an awkward red with the spider in the eighth. Typically, the five-time World Champion counter attacked for 5-3, and then crafted a run of 120 to lead 6-3 at the end of the afternoon’s play.
Needing a fast start, things couldn’t have begun worse for China’s number 1 in the evening. O’Sullivan won the first frame and then continued to pull away, taking all four frames to record another one-sided victory and bank a further £100,000 to his coffers.
Following wins at the English Open, Shanghai Masters and UK Championship, this is the first time O’Sullivan has won four ranking titles in a season. He will now have eyes on equaling, or perhaps bettering, Stephen Hendry, Ding and Selby’s joint record of five during a campaign.
In 1993, at the same Guild Hall venue, 17-year-old Ronnie O’Sullivan upset Hendry to become the UK Champion and the youngest ever ranking event winner – a title he still holds today. The Englishman is now just four away from Hendry’s all-time record total of 36. Who would back against him breaking that?