Ronnie O’Sullivan says a dismissive online comment predicting he would be 'trounced' by Kyren Wilson gave him the spark to pull off a dramatic comeback at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The 49-year-old fought back from 5-3 down to beat Wilson 6-5 in a tense quarter-final on Thursday night, showing he still has the quality and competitive edge to challenge the sport’s best as he nears his 50th birthday.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, O’Sullivan admitted that seeing the remark before the game pushed him to dig deeper.
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“It helped that I looked at a comment and someone said, ‘he’s going to get trounced by Wilson’ so I was like, ‘okay’ — that kind of made me try a little bit harder,” he said.
Ronnie O’Sullivan says a dismissive online comment predicting he would be 'trounced' by Kyren Wilson gave him the spark to pull off a dramatic comeback at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters
|PA
“Obviously everyone was writing me off, didn’t expect me to win.
"I kind of like being in that position, it spurs me on a bit to try and give the opponent a game.
"I feel like I’ve achieved an amazing result. I’m 50 years of age soon and I’m playing Kyren who’s 33, in his prime, best player in the world, so for me, it’s an amazing result.
"I’ve got to be over the moon with that.”
The opening six frames were shared, but Wilson, the reigning Crucible champion, looked to have seized control with breaks of 69 and 80 to move within a frame of victory at 5-3.
O’Sullivan, who also staged a fightback from 5-2 down in the previous round against Chang Bingyu, produced back-to-back centuries of 110 and 118 to level the match.
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A tough but really exciting match to be a part of. A big thank you to the fans. As always the support out here for me has been incredible!! pic.twitter.com/bIJIFDkzJi
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) August 14, 2025
In the deciding frame, he kept his composure to seal a place in the semi-finals, where he will meet Chris Wakelin.
Wakelin also booked his spot with a 6-5 win over Barry Hawkins.
“I’m enjoying playing at the moment,” O’Sullivan added.
“I didn’t expect to win. My goal was to give him half a decent game and make him work for it, and I’d have been happy.
"For me, he is the best player in the world. I tell that to everybody and they go, ‘yeah but he’s this and he’s that,’ and I’m like, ‘he doesn’t look like he’s doing anything brilliant, but he does everything so well’.
“He’s just like John Higgins really. They’re so good in every department, so efficient.
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Ronnie O'Sullivan believes Kyren Wilson is the best in the world
| PA"It’s hard, you know, because I’m a bit in and out. I think it’s harder to concentrate maybe when you get older. I just tried my hardest.”
The other semi-final will feature Neil Robertson against Elliot Slessor.
Robertson defeated Ali Carter 6-4, while Slessor edged out Mark Williams 6-5 in another closely fought contest.