Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan dishes out 13-2 hiding against Hossein Vafaei at the Crucible

By Sporting Life

Snooker

Sat April 22, 2023 · 2y ago

Ronnie O'Sullivan destroyed Hossein Vafaei 13-2, winning all seven frames on Saturday afternoon to close out a resounding win with a session to spare.

O'Sullivan had bagged his 200th Crucible century on his way to a 6-2 lead on Friday afternoon and came back to make it 1200 in a remarkable career as he dished out a lesson to his opponent.

It was O'Sullivan's biggest win in a best-of-25 match and was capped with another century before sharing a warm embrace with Vafaei at the end of a one-sided thumping.

All smiles at the end of the day ❤️#CazooWorldChampionship | @CazooUK pic.twitter.com/UyX1sLwh15
— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) April 22, 2023

Vafaei taught a lesson by masterful Rocket

Vafaei had been an outspoken critic of O'Sullivan last year and added fuel to the fire on Monday when stating that O'Sullivan is a 'nice person when he's asleep'.

O'Sullivan had already recalled Vafaei's suggestion that he retires from snooker after his first-round victory over Pang Junxu which set up a potential showdown with the Iranian and he appeared in determined mood from the outset, winning the first two frames and never looking back.

After just one of three scheduled sessions the match looked over as a contest, and O'Sullivan proved that to be the case as he moved through the gears upon his return to the arena, bagging four half-centuries before a 107 break which for a time looked like it would be the second maximum of the week.

O'Sullivan was frustrated at being unable to get back on the black midway through the run but made sure of the frame and went on to reach the 1200 mark for career centuries as he moved into an unassailable 12-2 lead.

Vafaei was by now long beaten and a careless miss among the balls in frame 15 allowed O'Sullivan to ruthlessly capitalise and ensure a whitewash on the day which means he can take Sunday off before returning for a quarter-final match with Luca Brecel.

It’s all fun and games 😉👍🏼 pic.twitter.com/qqBzT1PSEc
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) April 22, 2023

O'Sullivan explained that while he's always spurred on when anyone doubts him, he holds Vafaei in high regard and believes that one day he too could become world champion.

"It's not a personal thing, sometimes when people doubt me, I take it as motivation to go you know what I need to prove that I am still good, that I can still play this game. It's not a personal thing, it's just something that helps me.

"When Hossein said that, in the back of my mind it sort of helped me in a way, but never person. You don't get personal with this game. It's the game we try and master.

"He beat Ding in the first round, anyone who beats Ding has to play well, and he beat him comfortably. He's young, I know he doesn't look that young but he's got time on his side and he can win this tournament, no doubt about that.

"Every player that was here in the first round is capable of winning this tournament. They're so good now.

As for his performance, O'Sullivan felt pleased to have moved up a gear and showed no signs of the illness which had affected his performance against Pang.

"Quarter-finals don't excite me," he added. "This tournament's all about winning or nothing, for me there's no in-between. I get super-excited.

"I feel a lot better. I still can't run though, which is irritating! I've just got to suck it up, I'm not allowed to do any exercise. I'm doing some art while I'm here, that's keeping me busy."

No regrets for Vafaei

Vafaei left the arena smiling and insisted that his comments had been good for the game, just as this defeat would be good for his in the long-run.

"I just lost to the greatest ever," Vafaei told the BBC. "I don't care about the people saying whatever they want to say. He played fantastic, no one plays this snooker better than him. When he's on the table, he is snooker to be honest with you.

"I got my lesson 100%, but I know how to give lessons to the other players. I'm going to be dangerous. I swear to god, I've been writing so many things today, and I learned a few things in the game that's going to help me in the future.

"This sport if it stays quiet it's not going to improve. This sport needs characters, it needs someone to say something. Otherwise it's going to be very boring, people come and don't have any stories to tell.

"I don't care, win or lose, I lost to the greatest ever."