Ronnie O'Sullivan wins seven frames on the spin to thump Hossein Vafaei 13-2 and reach quarter-finals of World Snooker Championship; Vafaei had smashed open the reds in opening session on Friday afternoon and been branded "disrespectful" by six-time world champion Steve Davis
Saturday 22 April 2023 18:28, UK
Ronnie O'Sullivan won seven successive frames as he thumped Hossein Vafaei 13-2 in their Crucible grudge match to reach the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship.
Vafaei had been branded "disrespectful" by six-time world champion Steve Davis a day earlier after smashing open the pack of reds while breaking in the second frame of his last-16 match with O'Sullivan.
O'Sullivan had done similar during a 5-0 defeat to Vafaei in qualifying for the German Masters in 2021, which appeared to be the start of Vafaei's issues with the seven-time world champion.
O'Sullivan was a resounding winner of their encounter in Sheffield, opening up a 6-2 lead on Friday and then breezing into the last eight with a session to spare after a ruthless display on Saturday afternoon.
The 47-year-old reeled off six consecutive breaks of 50 or more and closed out the match with successive centuries before embracing Vafaei.
O'Sullivan said: "It's not like I take comments personally, I've probably had five or six people saying something over my career that has just inspired me to prove to myself that I can still play the game.
"I play between 50 and 100 matches a year and I've got to beat everyone, there's no point getting fixated with one player and what he did. I don't say anything to him. That little black book is locked up in my mind and just kind of helped me."
Vafaei said: "It was nice for the people everywhere, you see snooker at the top of the news. Snooker is just boring players without me, so it's good to have a good character. It just makes people more interested in the sport.
"This year I lost to the greatest who ever played this game. He said to me, let's be friends together again. Everything is back like it was before and I wish him to win the tournament because he is too good for this sport."
On his controversial break-off, Vafaei added: "I had to take it off my chest and it happened. I just did it to give him back what he gave to me."
O'Sullivan is targeting a record eighth Crucible title having matched Stephen Hendry's tally of seven when he beat Judd Trump in the 2022 final.
The Englishman will play Luca Brecel in the quarter-finals after the Belgian defeated three-time world champion Mark Williams 13-11 on Friday night.
Elsewhere, Mark Allen needed less than 20 minutes on Saturday morning to clinch a 13-4 win over 2015 champion Stuart Bingham and reach the quarter-finals for the first time in five years.
The Northern Irishman, 12-4 up overnight, knocked in a break of 68 to book a meeting with qualifier Jak Jones, who upset 2010 winner Neil Robertson 13-7 later in the day.
Allen said afterwards he was inspired by a bracelet given to him by his five-year-old daughter, Harley.
World No 3 Allen said: "It's great for me having this to look at, when you make mistakes out there and you look down and you realise where your priorities really lie, it takes some pressure off.
"It just says 'dad' on it. It's pinks and purples and stuff, not really my favourite colours, but it helps keep my mind at rest. It's good to have that happy thought in your head."
