Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. John Higgins: World Snooker Championship 2011 – quarter-final preview
Englishman Ronnie O’Sullivan has set up a quarter-final clash with the world number one John Higgins at the World Snooker Championship 2011.
The match will begin on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Both cuemen are hot favourites among the top class snooker players of the world and their performance in the current event has been outstanding so far with comprehensive wins.
The ‘Rocket’ has been playing up to the mark after he reconsidered his decision of retirement from the World Snooker Championship 2011. He started his campaign brilliantly with a splendid victory over the Welshman Dominic Dale by 10-2 in his first-round
match of the event. The world number 10 O’Sullivan pocketed some superb clearances of 96, 113, 73, 115, 96 and 100 to knock Dale convincingly out of the event and surge into the second round.
The 35-year-old O’Sullivan next met the archrival Shaun Murphy in the second round of the tournament. Both cuemen went on a verbal onslaught by criticising each other’s actions in the game before their match began at the Crucible Theatre on Saturday.
However, the Wordsley potter O’Sullivan stumbled upon the table terrifically to unsettle his opponent, Murphy, but faced a tough resistance from the 28-year-old as he moved within the score line of 9-7 after two sessions. A couple of rattling century breaks
of 128 and 119 from O’Sullivan in the third session pushed him into the quarters after he defeated Murphy by 13-10.
On the other hand, Higgins’ journey of the championship began with his win over the Englishman Stephen Lee at 10-5 in the first round of the mega event. The former three-time world champion Higgins smashed some sensational knocks of 56, 70, 132, 101, 131,
124, 74 and 81 to nudge Lee down at the Crucible Theatre and cruise into the second round against Rory McLeod.
The Scotsman, Higgins, completely dominated his second-round match with McLeod as the ‘Wizard of Wishaw’ moved within 10-5 lead over the English potter after two sessions. The 40-year-old McLeod could clinch only two frames in the third session and the North
Lanarkshire cueist Higgins wrapped up the table smartly in no time to book his quarter-final berth against the ‘Essex Exocet’ Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Odds and statistics
The Englishman O’Sullivan has a unique playing style in the world of snooker. He likes to play fast and furious in an offensive manner yet his break building and long potting skills are second to none.
Due to his quick game-play, he was nicknamed ‘The Rocket’. He is the only ambidextrous player in the game with the same style of play.
However, his performance in the current season has not been up to the expectations as he faced several problems regarding his health and family. His match-winning rate is at 53 percent with 17 victories out of 32 while he grabbed 92 frame wins out of 148
that make his frame-winning ratio 62.2 percent.
About his match against Higgins, he himself declares the Scotsman favourite as he said, “After the performances you'd have to make John favourite because he's got to be playing better than that. I'd be surprised if he's not.”
On the other hand, Higgins has been in exceptional form in the current season as he possesses a stunning match-winning rate of 90.3 percent with 62.6 percent of frame-winning ratio. His playing style is quite tactical and impressive as he is famous for building
big breaks and his steady game play has made him one of the deadliest opponents any cueman can have.
Head-to-head
Both O’Sullivan and Higgins have gone head-to-head several times during the last two seasons. However, from the seven clashes they had in the past, Higgins clinched four while O’Sullivan has been victorious thrice.
The odds here are in favour of John Higgins and he surely has the tendency to win but O’Sullivan’s brilliant come back in the event has also made him a strong contender for the title. Let’s see which cueist manages to nail this one.
Tags: