Ronnie O’Sullivan believes only a handful of players have the right winning mentality after he came from behind to beat Yan Bingtao at the World Grand Prix on Wednesday. ‘The Rocket’ had trailed his 18-year-old opponent by three frames to two but held his nerve to win the final two frames of the match and seal his place in the quarter-finals.
After the match, the five-time world champion, who is also the top seed for this week’s event, criticised Bingtao and his fellow young players for not having the courage to close out matches on the big stage. ‘I think there are only four or five players on the circuit who have got any bottle,” O’Sullivan told ITV. “John Higgins has it, Stephen Hendry had it in abundance, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby have a bit of it.
Other than that, they all get a bit flaky under the cosh.” O’Sullivan is looking to win his fourth title of the year in Preston this week and his reward for reaching the last eight is a clash with Xiao Guodong on Thursday. Guodong recorded a 4-3 victory over John Higgins to reach the quarter-finals although it is O’Sullivan who boasts the better head-to-head record between the pair given he has won three of their four previous meetings.
O’Sullivan will be looking to record another victory over Guodong and is priced at 2/7 to win the match while his Chinese opponent is available at 5/2.