Ronnie O’Sullivan admits he was ‘really nervous’ on his return to the Masters, despite a dominant performance against Jack Lisowski in round one, surging into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 victory.
The Rocket was coming off an impressive win at the World Grand Prix in December and continued his fine form with a string of big breaks to beat Jackpot.
O’Sullivan dominated the contest, despite Lisowski showing good form early on as the underdog made a superb break of 104 to make the match 1-1.
That was as good as it got for Jackpot, though, with the Rocket making breaks of 86, 63, 127, 64 and 125 on his way to the comfortable victory.
Lisowski had chances in the third and sixth frames but couldn’t take them, which was more than enough generosity for the world number three to take the win.
O’Sullivan didn’t look nervous in the match, but he said he was really struggling with nerves in front of the big and vocal crowd at Alexandra Palace.
‘I struggled early on, I was so nervous, I was really, really nervous,’ He said on the BBC. ‘Such a big crowd, we’ve played behind-closed-doors for so long. I forgot what it was like to play in front of a crowd never mind in front of this crowd full of mad Londoners.
‘I was feeling the pressure but after the second frame I calmed down a bit and thought, “Okay, let’s just try and play snooker.” I played alright, I played okay.’
He added: ‘I’m always nervous before any match, well not any match but some matches, some tournaments, it brings out the dark side in me.
‘It was tough, but I’m tough. I know I just have to get on with it and at some point the snooker Gods sometimes say it’s time to calm down and play some snooker.’
On the prospect of Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals, O’Sullivan said: ‘I just savour every match I play, 20 majors, most successful player of all time, I’ve just got to keep thinking like that, take that into the match and let him worry about me.’
O’Sullivan takes on Robertson in the last eight on Thursday afternoon.
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