It's not a déjà-vu and you
are certainly not dreaming! The miracle (if we might call it that way), had
happen and Ronnie O'Sullivan has captured his fifth world title by beating
Barry Hawkins 18-12 in the 2013 World Championship Final.
"Blink and you'll miss
him!" said Rob Walker's in his intro for the Rocket and boy was he right.
The man practically flew towards the victory and although The Hawk put an enormous
pressure on him, Ronnie still managed to keep his head straight and go on to
win his fifth world title, thus getting a cosy place next to stars like Stephen
Hendry (7 world titles), Steve Davis or Ray Reardon (both with 6 titles each).
Barry Hawkins getting his silver medal from Barry Hearn
The last two sessions that
were played today only came to reconfirm the fact that O'Sullivan was in the
mood for winning, not letting anyone to stand between him and his dream.
Not even a very talented
and eager-to-win Barry Hawkins who reached the final of the World Championship
for the first time in his career and who, although didn't succeed to win the
title, made a marvellous impression on the audience and on the millions of
viewers from home.
The third session ended on
a 15-10 scoreline, Hawkins being punished for each and every miss he committed,
but the story seemed to change when the last session kicked off and with it,
the Hawk's fury.
The finalists: The Hawk and the Rocket
A superb 127 clearance and
a 66 break were helping Barry pull back two frames on a row and give a little
bit of hope for his fans; than he can do the impossible and get back into the
match.
But it wasn't to be, as
O'Sullivan used breaks of 77, 88 and another 88 to get on an 18-12 victory and
lift the most precious trophy snooker possess.
Fist in the air, a huge
smile, sharing this magical experience with his son, Ronnie Jr, emotional
interview with Hazel Irwin, trophy raised - that's how 17-day of snooker ended
and that's how Ronnie O'Sullivan stunned us again.
Stating that he's here to
stay, although he might just play in small events, and that snooker is still
part of his life, Ronnie congratulated his opponent, Barry Hawkins, for a
tremendous job and for putting pressure on him.
Fist in the air - Ronnie's done it again!
Little glittery things
seems to be poring from the sealing, the hungry flash-lights of the cameras sought
the best angle possible, but all I could hear was Queen's song:" [...] I'm
a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course/I am a satellite/ I'm out
of control [...]" because that's the best possible way to describe Ronnie
O'Sullivan.
So peeps this is it!
Another 17-days of cue-crossings finished and although it probably wasn't one
of the most memorable World Championships, the final was a great one - so, well
played Barry Hawkins (for whom I see a great season ahead) and well played
Ronnie O'Sullivan (you're not getting anything from me here, the man is too
unpredictable!)
Told yaa this was going to
be an interesting final! After two sessions the boys made the unthinkable and
switched from dramatic moments, to sublime snooker, from some cracking pots to
some really brilliant safety shots exchange and from being led to being the
leader.
And although Barry Hawkins'
performance was absolutely spectacular giving the circumstances and the
magnitude of this event, the best man at the end of the day was still, the
Rocket. O'Sullivan ended both
sessions in the leading position the first one at 5-3 and the second at 10-7.
Two breaks of 74 and 92
were opening the final of this year's World Championship, O'Sullivan putting
his foot down from the very beginning.
But Hawkins wasn’t going to
let the four-time world champion get to him, so he fought back with a
tremendous set of breaks (88 and 81) to draw level and added runs of 45 and 50
for a 3-2 lead. Who would have thought? The Rocket was being led for the first
time since the kick off of the tournament.
Still, by the end of the
first session things went Ronnie's way thanks to breaks of 76, 113 and 100 for
a 5-3 scoreline. The man looked unbeatable.
The Hawk is right behind him
The evening session and the
lads re-entered into the arena closely supervised by the ref in charge Jan
Verhaas.
Hawkins was the first to
break the ice and narrowed the gap at just one point (4-5), but the Rocket
reverted the situation with just a break of 46 that came after Barry called a
foul upon himself, thus the scoreline re-opened the two-frame gap (6-4).
One more time Barry pushed
the odds and with runs of 37 and 23 got closer to his opponent and just like
before O'Sullivan preferred to get away from him at 7-5.
"Too much déjà-vu in
this match", thought Hawkins, so he stormed in with a break of 83 and a marvellous
133 clearance to level up at seven apiece. Game on!
Nothing could be easier fro
O'Sullivan though, who used a break of 103 and one of 106 to fly at 9-7.
"Catch me if you can, Hawkie-boy!"
Ronnie is getting closer to winning his 5th world title
And Hawkins tried, tried
his best and he almost succeeded, the last frame of the session being one hell
of a cue-crossing! It had flukes, it has ridiculous pots, it had a free-ball,
it had tension and it ... was finally won by O'Sullivan on the last black.
So it’s 10-7 and the lads
have two more sessions to complete, at the end of them the Crucible arena and
its spectators as well as the entire planet being able to witness the new world
champion.
Does Hawkins have any chances
at all to hold the Rocket down and fly above him? Can Ronnie win his fifth
world title and get his name under Stephen Hendry (7 titles), Steve Davis/Ray
Reardon (6 titles each)?
Many would be tempted to
choose the second option and the truth is that the odds favourite Ronnie, but
still, let's not forget that the worst thing one can do, is to underestimate
one's opponent and if a cue and some snooker balls are part of the equation,
than the saying fully applies.
But putting all that aside,
I invite you all to follow both Ronnie O'Sullivan and Barry Hawkins in their
quest for the world title, on Monday from 2pm and 7pm. See yaa there, peeps!
