Ronnie O’Sullivan has won his fifth tournament of the season by gaining victory over Luca Brecel in the final of the inaugural Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker.
The Rocket won 5-2 in Boulevard City and will earn a huge £250,000 from his win but wasn’t able to find a money-spinning 167.
O’Sullivan and nine more of the best players in the world made the trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this week for the first official snooker tournament in the country.
Players had the lure of hitting a historic first-ever 167 break, with the introduction of a golden ball at the beginning of each frame.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has won the Riyadh World Masters of Snooker
Eurosport
The first player to hit a 147 break and then pot the golden ball, worth 20 points, would earn themselves an astonishing £395,000 bonus.
O’Sullivan never looked close to achieving the feat but he will still walk away with a cool quarter of a million.
The Rocket overcame John Higgins in fine style in his quarter-final on Tuesday, beating his old rival 4-0.
He was close to his emphatic best and didn’t allow Higgins to pot a single ball in the match.
O’Sullivan was decidedly below par in his semi-final against Judd Trump on Wednesday afternoon.
But Trump was also out of sorts and succumbed to a 4-1 loss to the seven-time world champion.
The victory set up a match against reigning world champion Brecel, who beat Ali Carter and Mark Allen on his way to the final.
O’Sullivan started strongly with a 95 break, narrowly missing out on a century with the blue just staying out.
Brecel, who has struggled since his win at the Crucible, was starting to show the form which saw him beat O’Sullivan in the quarter-final in Sheffield.
The Belgian immediately drew level in the next frame before taking a 2-1 lead.
He would have been disappointed to not go into the mid-match interval 3-1 ahead, making a crucial mistake in missing a black to let O’Sullivan back in.
The 48-year-old took advantage and levelled the game up at 2-2 before the 15-minute interval.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan has won the first official snooker tournament in Saudi Arabia
Eurosport
O’Sullivan returned to the table on top and immediately hit a stunning 121 break to take the lead.
He then put his foot on the gas as he quickly made it 4-2 and was one frame away from victory.
Brecel took a gamble and it didn’t pay off and O’Sullivan was there to finish a fine performance with another century to secure a convincing 5-2 win.
It is the fifth time O’Sullivan has got his hands on a trophy this season.
Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Luca Brecel in the final
Eurosport
He won the Shanghai Masters last September, beating Brecel in the final.
He then won the UK Championship in December before lifting a record-extending eighth Masters in January.
O’Sullivan won the World Grand Prix a week later and has now added a new trophy to his cabinet.
He will head to Sheffield in April looking to become the first player to win eight World Snooker Championships.
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