Ronnie O’Sullivan is enjoying the Champion of Champions event in Coventry this week, the five-time world champion insisting he is thriving in a ‘numpty-free zone’. The tournament winners from the last 12 months have gathered at the Ricoh Arena for a showdown and O’Sullivan has forced his way into the semi-finals alongside last-four opponent Anthony Hamilton, world number five Shaun Murphy and in-from Belgian Luca Brecel. ‘The Rocket’ lost just one of the 10 frames he played on Thursday, dispatching Neil Robertson 4-1 before a whitewash of old rival John Higgins 6-0.
Early last month O’Sullivan caused controversy when he said one of the reasons he was not entering the European Masters in Belgium was because he didn’t want ‘to play a numpty in Barnsley’ in order to qualify for the tournament. Winner of the Champion of Champions in 2013 and 2014, 41-year-old O’Sullivan is enjoying the one-table setup and the standard of opposition this week – and he’s looking to hang around for as long as possible. “You come in and you can get on the practice table and get a hotel room, and it’s got one table,” he told ITV. “I’m just happy to still be in it. In a numpty-free zone tournament, you don’t want to be going home early – you want to stick around.” Having established 4-0 advantage on four-time world champion Higgins with a high break of 81, O’Sullivan turned on the afterburners with breaks of 101 and 138 to book his last-four encounter with recent German Masters winner Hamilton.
O’Sullivan is 5/1 to complete another 6-0 demolition in the semi-finals on Friday night. He is now favourite at 8/15 to pick up the £100,000 winner’s cheque on Sunday, while world number 26 Hamilton is the 14/1 outsider of the remaining quartet in Coventry.
Snooker odds available at Dafabet.