Intruder can’t ruffle Ronnie
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN handed an interloper his cue yesterday – and gave her the chance to finish off a brilliant century break.
The bizarre incident took place at the English Open in Barnsley’s Metrodome during his 4-1 win over China’s Zhang Yong.
O’Sullivan had been on fire with breaks of 68, 126 and 127.
In the fifth frame, on another superb run, O’Sullivan, Zhang and referee Colin Humphries were stunned when a woman burst in.
She ran around the table crying out, “I’m running, I’m running!” while a security guard, caught off guard, looked bemused.
But a laughing O’Sullivan potted the pink to take his break to 129, then offered his cue so the invader could attempt to pot the final black. Asking “Do I get any money if I pot the black?”, the woman missed the straightforward shot before being escorted off the premises by red-faced security staff.
O’Sullivan said: “I didn’t know what to do at first, and she just said ‘I’m having a jog, I’m having a jog’.
“So I was like, ‘Carry on then – and you might as well have a shot as well while you’re at it’. So she got down and I thought she was going to pot it. I really wanted her to.”
And O’Sullivan recovered from his afternoon ordeal to reach the quarter-finals last night with a 4-3 win over John Higgins.
Go to www.express. co.uk/sport to watch the incident. CATALAN DRAGONS have secured the services of Lewis Tierney, whose tries in the Million Pound Game kept the club in the Super League.
The 22-year-old wing or full-back, the son of dual-code England international Jason Robinson, spent the final three months of the 2017 season on loan from Wigan and has now signed a two-year contract to stay in the south of France. TOURNAMENT host Sergio Garcia claimed a share of the lead after the first round of his belated title defence at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
Garcia, who won the last staging of the event in 2011, carded an opening 66 to finish five under par alongside Holland’s Joost Luiten.
“I made some nice putts and overall it was very solid. I’m very happy with my round,” said Garcia. world title,” said Hamilton. “I have worked hard to be where I am today and, while I do have opinions and feelings towards the whole situation, at the moment I have no plans to do anything.” At Hamilton’s former team, McLaren, Fernando Alonso has announced he has signed a new one-year contract, quashing rumours that he could be about to move seats. The 36-year-old, who has not won a race since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and has finished in the points just twice this year, made McLaren sweat over his future. But with no vacancies at Mercedes, his former team Ferrari, or indeed Red Bull, the Spaniard was left with little option than to extend his stay at McLaren into a fourth successive year. McLaren’s decision to end their miserable partnership with engine supplier Honda and switch to Renault power from next season is understood to have been integral in ensuring Alonso would stay. “It was always where my heart was telling me to stay, and I really feel at home here,” said Alonso. “Although the last few years have not been easy, we have never forgotten how to win, and I believe we can achieve that again soon.”