Ronnie O'Sullivan leads Mark Selby in semifinal hit by 'worst kicks ever'
Ronnie O’Sullivan missed a chance to turn up the heat on Mark Selby as humidity threatened to wreak havoc in the first session of their world championship semi-final at the Crucible in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan complained about the worst kicks of his career after an errorstrewn start to the session, which he edged 5-3 despite dominating his outof-sorts opponent. After both players suffered a series of bad cue ball contacts in the third frame, the 44-year-old O’Sullivan told referee Paul Collier: “I’ve never had kicks like that before in my life.”
Officials took the unusual step of changing the balls during the mid-session interval and the kicks appeared to subside, with O’Sullivan fashioning an overnight advantage that ought to have been more comprehensive.
Players and pundits, including the six-times world championship runnerup Jimmy White, have suggested the warm weather may be a factor in the increased incidences of contact problems. White said on Eurosport that “it might be the humidity outside”, while O’Sullivan himself referenced the “damp conditions” after his secondround win over Ding Junhui.
A World Snooker Tour spokesman confirmed that “humidity is bound to be a factor”, but pointed out that kicks have been “dramatically reduced” in recent years following the introduction of an anti-static cloth.
O’Sullivan had been the first to suffer in the opening frame when a bad contact on a black brought his break of 59 to an end, although a brilliant long red belatedly helped him nudge ahead.
Both players made uncharacteristic errors in the following frame, with Selby’s proving the most costly when he caught a red on the lip of the pocket on a break of 39, and some fine longpotting from O’Sullivan helped him extend his lead.
Selby held on to win a near-farcical third frame in which the threetimes champion was seen to express his frustration, and after which O’Sullivan engaged Collier in conversation as his opponent briefly left the arena.
O’Sullivan went 3-1 ahead with a break of 85 before the interval, and while the kicks proved negligible upon the resumption, the errors continued as Selby missed the simplest of greens to help sweep O’Sullivan into a 4-1 lead. However, Selby responded in combative fashion by winning a sixth frame that hinged on his potting of a red to the middle which O’Sullivan had earlier refused.
O’Sullivan fired a break of 58 to go 5-2 ahead but Selby clawed his way back from a 51-point deficit in the final frame of the evening to finish a largely forgettable session 5-3 behind.
Anthony McGill moved closer to a first world final by opening up a 6-2 lead in the opening session against the eighth seed Kyren Wilson.
Wilson was almost unrecognisable from the player who polished off the defending champion Judd Trump on Tuesday as a series of missed pots and safety errors gifted qualifier McGill the chance to continue his dream run in the tournament.
After an epic first-round triumph over the 13th seed Jack Lisowski and successes against Jamie Clarke and Kurt Maflin, McGill now stands a strong chance of joining Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Graeme Dott as the only Scottish finalists in the Crucible era.