At the York Barbican, O’Sullivan defeats Zhou 6-5 to go to the semi-finals, while Hossein Vafaei defeats Zhang Anda 6-4.
After a thrilling victory during his comeback match in the UK Snooker Championship, Ronnie O’Sullivan secured his spot in the semi-finals at the York Barbican. This week, O’Sullivan is vying for his eighth UK Championship title, but he had to battle through to the final round for the second time in a row after defeating Zhou Yuelong 6-5.
With a break of 125 in the first set, “The Rocket” jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before leading 4-1. However, Zhou responded with four frames on the spin as the O’Sullivan train came to an end, and he appeared to be doomed to lose with a 5-4 disadvantage.
However, he found another gear, as he has so frequently done, to tie the match at 5-5. A merciless break of 122 in the decisive set up a repeat of their intense World Championship battle earlier this year between him and Hossein Vafaei in the semifinals.
After winning, O’Sullivan declared, “Technically, I was all over the gaff.” “I started to play okay in the final two frames out of desperation. I was just going through the motions before then. I felt no pressure at all, and I was really dissatisfied and angry with how I performed. Since he was playing better and I was deserving of the loss, I wasn’t anxious.
Watch the action from the Championship here in the UK:
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