“I’m not sitting here with a massive grin and super-excited,” said O’Sullivan. Hauled back from 4-1 and 7-5 leads by Ding, who like O’Sullivan won his first UK title as a teenager in 2005, the world number one dug deep when it mattered and consecutive breaks of 100 and 74 set him up for his final flourish.īut amid the inevitable uproar, O’Sullivan cut a somewhat underwhelmed figure, admitting his latest win lacked the “buzz” of some of his earlier successes, and said he had even found himself struggling for motivation as the opening session loomed. O’Sullivan, who turns 48 on Tuesday, triumphed 10-7 after a heavyweight battle with his Chinese opponent, sealing a record-extending eighth UK crown with an exhibition-style finish of 129 amid raucous scenes at the Barbican. Ronnie O’Sullivan repelled the determined challenge of Ding Junhui to become the oldest winner of the UK Snooker Championship in York, 30 years after he claimed his first title at the tournament at the age of 17. “But it would be nice to tick it off, I’m not going to lie.” I think my best chance was going to the Wuhan Open and I didn’t, so that shows you how much it keeps me busy. “I’ve been one match away and one frame away from world number one. Two centuries and a further break of 86 proved enough for the Belgian, who twice came back from behind then was pegged back to 4-4 before raising his game to progress to the last 16 of a tournament where he reached the final two years ago.īrecel must repeat the feat in order to stand any chance of reaching the top spot but he conceded that task alone does not provide the boost he needs to buckle down: “I’m still young and I feel like one day I’m going to get to number one anyway. “If you feel like that it’s impossible to change, but in the last few weeks I’ve been tired of losing in early rounds and I want to have that hunger to go deep again in tournaments.”īrecel’s post-world title winning campaign has been far from a write-off, having reached the final of the Shanghai Masters in September and the third round of two ranking tournaments, and there were glimpses in his win over Yuan of the player who could ascend to the world number one ranking for the first time this week. I was just playing and if I lost I was happy to be home. “I don’t like that feeling and I had to change something. “I didn’t go lazy, but I just didn’t feel that hunger or motivation going from tournament to tournament,” added Brecel. “It was a conscious decision to buy the cars and maybe feel that bit of pressure again, to recreate the feeling I had of just starting my career.”īrecel, who will replenish his ailing balance by a Ferrari-sized £250,000 if he goes on to claim his first UK title next Sunday, said he struggled in the aftermath of his epic triumph over Mark Selby, having achieved a dream that drove him since he first picked up a cue at the age of nine. “I bought two more cars this week so I went from a millionaire to a non-millionaire,” said Brecel. The Belgian celebrated his shock Crucible success six months ago by spending half his winnings on a £250,000 Ferrari and revealed he drained his bank balance further this week by adding a Range Rover and a Porsche Taycan to his growing garage. World champion Luca Brecel insists splashing the cash has helped restore his hunger for more snooker success after he kicked off his UK Championship campaign with a gruelling 6-4 victory over Yuan Sijun in York.
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