RONNIE IN ‘TROUBLE’ WITH REF

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN clashed with referee Olivier Marteel, accusing him of “looking for trouble” as the dream Crucible final turned toxic.

O’sullivan (above) is bidding to equal Stephen Hendry’s record by winning the Betfred World Championship for a seventh time in Sheffield. But the showpiece against 2019 winner Judd Trump was overshadowed in the first session by two heated clashes between the world No.1 and the Belgian official.

The biggest flashpoint came in a tense eighth and final frame of the opening afternoon session. O’sullivan, 5-2 ahead, snookered himself behind the blue on the final yellow looking to clear up – then fouled the black attempting an escape.

But after he stormed back to his chair, Marteel (below) paused the game, asking Trump to wait, and accused O’sullivan of making a lewd gesture.

The Rocket furiously denied the charge and demanded: “Tell me what you saw?” Then he said: “You saw nothing, don’t start, go and look at the camera,” directing Marteel to the marker’s video.

Trump had been kept waiting to play his shot all this time at a key stage of the session but then joined in, telling the official: “Couldn’t you have done it after the game?”

Back in his dressing room, O’sullivan, still protesting his innocence, said: “He’s looking for trouble, you get a vibe from the guy.

“They have hundreds of cameras and he can go and check them all. He is just trying to create something.”

Earlier O’sullivan, who made his 200th World Championship century, said to Marteel: “You play the shot,” following a dispute about where the white was replaced.

Without admitting he made any gesture, O’sullivan later apologised to Marteel for his reaction.

And there was a cool fist-bump between the pair at the start of the second session.

When O’sullivan made his third century of the final, a run of 118 to take his lead to 8-4, it took his event tally to 15, one off the record of Hendry and Mark Williams.

With one frame left in last night’s session, O’sullivan led 11-5.