{"id":420891,"date":"2026-04-28T01:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/420891\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T01:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:37:12","slug":"i-was-realistic-about-my-chances-ronnie-osullivan-had-booked-flight-home-before-crucible-defeat-to-john-higgins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/420891\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was realistic about my chances\u2019 \u2013 Ronnie O\u2019Sullivan had booked flight home before Crucible defeat to John Higgins"},"content":{"rendered":"

O\u2019Sullivan expressed surprise that he managed to push his old rival to the brink after blowing a five-frame lead in a thrilling 13-12 defeat that ended his bid for a record-breaking eighth Crucible crown.<\/p>\n

Having trailed 9-4, Higgins fired three centuries in Monday\u2019s session before holding his nerve in a decider, and O\u2019Sullivan said: \u201cI\u2019ve got to be honest with you, I had a flight booked home [to Ireland] early this morning because I wasn\u2019t sure if I\u2019d get to the third session before the match started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was realistic about my chances. I haven\u2019t been in any big matches for two years. Playing the top boys in a real pressure situation now, I knew it was going to kind of expose me in some sort of way. I was really shocked that I was able to make a game of it, to be honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remarkably, it was Higgins who looked more likely to exit the tournament without the need for a Monday session, after looking distinctly out of sorts in the early stages, trailing 8-3 then 9-4 and looking bereft of his usual battling qualities.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie<\/p>\n

Ronnie O’Sullivan in action at the Crucible. Photo: PA<\/p>\n

But he forced a rare show of frustration from O\u2019Sullivan as he chipped back to a 9-7 overnight deficit, and turned on the style in the final session by firing three centuries en route to completing one of the most memorable wins of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be up there,\u201d the 50-year-old Scot said. \u201cI\u2019m just delighted I came to the party in the third session, because after the first two sessions, how I was only 9-7 behind, I\u2019ll never know. Ronnie was by far the better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere was incredible. I\u2019ll be honest, the ovation we got walking in there, it threw me. I just felt like I was like a rabbit in the headlights a little bit, and I think Ronnie could thrive off that and just settled down straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s chances of regaining the ascendancy on Morning afternoon took an early hit when he broke down on a mid-range red in the opening frame and Higgins showed he was up for the fight by taking the frame with a break of 58.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Higgins uses the rest to reach a red. Photo: PA<\/p>\n

Successive centuries shunted Higgins in front for the first time at 10-9, but O\u2019Sullivan slugged straight back with a coolly-dispatched 62 to haul level, before a brilliant 93 with the black out of commission suggested the favourite was back on course for victory.<\/p>\n

Higgins responded with his third century of the session and the pair split breaks in excess of 80 to set up a nerve-racking decider. Both had early chances but it was Higgins who grasped his at the second attempt to record a famous win.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Sullivan insisted he was \u201cshocked\u201d to have taken it to the brink, adding: \u201cWhen I was 6-2 up after the first session, I said to my mate, \u2018I can\u2019t work this out\u2019. I felt like I played OK, and 9-7 up after two sessions, I thought, \u2018OK, cool\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut John played great today and I tried to hang onto him. I just couldn\u2019t get the job done. I had a chance in the last and was probably a little bit unlucky going into the pack. I left myself a difficult red and I missed. What can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"O\u2019Sullivan expressed surprise that he managed to push his old rival to the brink after blowing a five-frame…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,120418,112],"class_list":["post-420891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ronnie-osullivan","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}