Defending champion O’Sullivan cruises into quarters

SHEFFIELD (BBC): Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan cruised into the World Championship quarter-finals with an emphatic 13-2 victory over Hossein Vafaei.

The seven-time world champion resumed 6-2 ahead and triumphed with a session to spare after a breath-taking display.

“It’s the World Championship, these are the tournaments you put everything into,” O’Sullivan told BBC Sport.

Debutant Jak Jones sprang a huge upset with a 13-7 victory over former world champion Neil Robertson.

World number one O’Sullivan, who compiled breaks of 58, 68, 82, 64, 102 and 116, plays Belgium’s Luca Brecel in the last eight.

“I got going towards the end, which was nice. I was pleased with how I played,” said O’Sullivan.

“You use some tournaments as a bit of shooting practice, but there’s few you know you’re going to get excited for. I’m going to give my best for this tournament.”

O’Sullivan, who reached a record-extending 21st Crucible quarter-final, warned the qualifier “not to rattle my cage” before the match, to which Vafaei responded by saying snooker’s biggest star was “a nice guy when he was asleep”.

And there was controversy in only the second frame of the match when Vafaei surprisingly smashed the pack of reds from the break.

But there was a warm embrace from the two players after the contest and O’Sullivan added: “It’s [the remarks] not a personal thing for me, but I’ve always said don’t doubt me, I’ll tell you when I’m done.

“I take it [criticism] as a motivation to still prove that I am still good, I can still play this game.

“It’s not a personal thing, but when Hossein said that I thought ‘OK, this is going to help me’.

“You don’t get personal with this game, it’s the game you try and master.

“But quarter-finals don’t excite me, this tournament is all about winning. For me there’s no in-between.

“There’s this, the Masters and the UK Championship, the three juicy tournaments if you like, with big crowds and are at big venues. It brings the best out of the best players, so I get super-excited for them.”

A reflective Vafaei told BBC Sport: “It’s been a great journey. I’ve lost to the greatest ever.

“He [Ronnie] played fantastic, I got my lesson 100%. I’ve learnt things in that match which will help me in the future.”