Ronnie O'Sullivan captured his first Embassy World Snooker Championships at the Crucible last night and dedicated the title to his mother and imprisoned father. The Londoner capitalised on a powerful opening session which he led 6-2 and never looked like relinquishing his grip on the final as he stormed to an 18-14 success over John Higgins which took him up to number two in the world rankings for next season.
But his first thoughts were with his dad, who is nearly nine years into a life sentence for murder on the Isle Of Sheppey. The 25-year-old, who registered his first century aged ten, admitted: "It's a dream come true, it's a big weight off my shoulders. I've never had an experience like it in my life - but I just want to say winning it is for my dad and my mum. It's nice for me but it will mean so much to my mum and sister - and my dad loves me to pieces and I love him to bits. That will mean so much to him. I've not spoken to him for the last day and a half because I've been so nervous about what was ahead. I could not have got two words out of my mouth. But I hope I can see my dad as soon as possible and I hope to speak to him on Tuesday morning if they let him use the phone in prison."
O'Sullivan, beaten in three previous semi-finals, but this time he held his explosive game together for the entire 17 marathon days and was able to hold Higgins at arm's length following Sunday's opener. When it came to the crunch in the final session it was O'Sullivan who had the nerve and determination to win the crucial frames just when Higgins briefly threatened a revival. O'Sullivan added: "When I was at the mid-session interval I was thinking 'I wish they could say I've won it now' because it meant so much - but with John Higgins out there I was thinking 'this is never going to happen.' I've played well all tournament, but I had to play especially well to beat John because all through the tournament he had been scoring heavily. He's got everything, bottle, temperament and is a class act. I was not physically shaking but mentally I've never experienced anything like that in my life."
Higgins was equally complementary in his tribute to the new world champion, insisting: "He's a worthy champion and now he is the player we are all chasing. I don't care about rankings. When Ronnie is in that sort of form he is the tops. He has got to be up there with the greats. I would imagine players like Ray Reardon and Cliff Thorburn watching that would never have believed that a player could come through who makes the game look so ridiculously easy. He does that and hats off to him. O'Sullivan's victory means he is only the third player to win more than £600,000 in a season in prize money, after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.
Filed by Shane Murray
