Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Mark Williams are snooker superstars, but in the tightest spot Higgins is in a class of their own

Ronnie OSullivan John Higgins and Mark Williams are snooker superstars

The stars, born in 1975, have won the World Cup title for snooker a total of 13 times. Ronnie O’Sullivan is staring at his seventh world championship, by which he would bypass Stephen Hendry’s record.

The snooker season 2021–2022 culminates in a 17-day World Cup in Sheffield, England. The top 16 players on the world list made it straight to the main series starting at the Crucible Theater on Saturday. Their opponents had to clear their way to the limelight through qualifiers.

The World Cup has been held at the Crucible Theater since 1977. Scotland With Stephen Hendry has the most championships, seven pieces. The closest of the active players is lurking Ronnie O’Sullivanin whose name there are six World Cup titles.

Born in December 1975, O’Sullivan has been playing at the Crucible Theater continuously since 1993, making this year’s tournament the most famous stage in his career, attracting 980 spectators.

Although the Englishman O’Sullivan is already 46 years old, he is leaving for the tournament as number one on the world list. The biggest superstar in the race will be released right from the opening day on Saturday when he starts his first-round match with his compatriot David Gilbert against Finnish time at 4.30 pm. The match will be played to completion on Sunday.

Australia is considered to be the biggest winner of the tournament Neil Robertsoniaalso English Judd Trump is high in estimates. The championship will be defended this season by fluctuatingly played England Mark Selby.

However, like O’Sullivan, much attention is paid to those of the top talent generation of 1975 John Higgins and Mark Williams. Welsh Williams is a three-time world champion who won the British Open at the start of the season. Scot Higgins, meanwhile, is a four-time world champion who has already played in five big finals this season – and lost every one.

With the youngest 1975 age group superstars still in the brightest spotlight, Sports raises three points for them with a view to the World Cup.

1) Four immediately to the song

Of the trio, O’Sullivan made his first debut at the Crucible Theater in 1993. Higgins first made it through in 1995 and Williams in 1997. Like O’Sullivan, Higgins has appeared in the World Cup Main Series every year since his debut, but Williams dropped out in 2014 and 2017.

However, since reaching the Crucible, the trio have performed strongly: each of them has lost only four times in the opening round of the World Series of the World Cup.

2) Higgins is in a class of its own

In the World Cup, the matches are long and split into several sessions. Opening round matches will be played in two, second round matches and semi-finals in three and semi-finals and finals in four sessions.

The most memorable matches in a race are often the ones where you have to find the solution through the longest possible formula. The decisive batch in English is the decider.

Although O’Sullivan and Williams have been very successful at the Crucible Theater, they both have more losses than wins from the games that advanced to the playoffs: O’Sullivan’s record is 3–4, and Williams ’2 is 3.

The end-to-end match at the Crucible Theater is a very possible test that Higgins is in a class of its own in the trio. After losing his first decider to O’Sullivan at the Crucible Theater in 1996, Higgins has since left the thriller as a winner six times in a row.

This season, however, three of Higgins ’five final losses have come in the playoffs.

3) O’Sullivan has only one winning formula

Looking at how the stars of 1975 have achieved their World Cup title, O’Sullivan stands out from Higgins and Williams for his superiority.

O’Sullivan has lost just 38 innings in his six championships on average. Higgins won four World Cup titles with an average of 49 and Williams won three World Championships with 44. As the 17-day World Cup is in its own series, surviving with as little effort as possible is usually of great value.

In one session, eight to nine rounds are normally played, so compared to Higgins, for example, O’Sullivan has progressed to the championship with much less effort.

It is noteworthy, however, how one-sidedly O’Sullivan’s championship train has progressed on its tracks. In his six championships, he has played 30 matches, of which only one, the 2020 semi-final, has ended in the playoffs. In addition, in 28 of the 29 matches, the winning margin has been more than two sets.

Indeed, O’Sullivan is known as the best front runner in the world, a player who, while leading the way, is able to further improve his game and often defeat his opponents.

4) Very lottery for O’Sullivan

In the World Championships starting on Saturday, O’Sullivan will face the toughest test of the 1975 champions in the 1st round. The opponent was drawn David Gilbertwhich O’Sullivan has faced seven times and won every time.

However, it is permissible to expect a tight future from the World Cup. In the last four seasons, Gilbert has been in the top ten three times, listing the players who have made the most hundred-point batting series. It will not be possible to make long matches against O’Sullivan if the player does not have the A-class league ability. It is this ability that is found in Gilbert.

The World Cup has also become a place where many players have managed to prune the O’Sullivan troll by their neck. Stuart Bingham succeeded in the trick in 2015, Barry Hawkins 2016, Ding Junhui 2017, Ali Carter 2018 and Anthony McGill 2021.

Schedule for the 1st round of the World Cup

Clocks Finnish time.

* = last session of the match.

Saturday

12:

  • Mark Selby, England – Jamie Jones, Wales
  • Zhao Xintong, China – Jamie Clarke, Wales
  • 4:30 p.m.

  • Barry Hawkins, England – Jackson Page, Wales
  • Ronnie O’Sullivan, England – David Gilbert, England
  • 9 p.m.

  • Mark Selby, England – Jamie Jones, Wales *
  • Shaun Murhpy, England – Stephen Maguire, Scotland
  • Sunday

    12 o’clock

  • Anthony McGill, Scotland – Liam Highfield, England
  • Zhao Xintong, China – Jamie Clarke, Wales *
  • 4:30 p.m.

  • Mark Williams, Wales – Michael White, Wales
  • Ronnie O’Sullivan, England – David Gilbert, England *
  • 9 p.m.

  • Barry Hawkins, England-Jackson Page, Wales “
  • Shaun Murphy, England – Stephen Maguire, Scotland *
  • Monday

    12 o’clock

  • Anthony McGill, Scotland – Liam Highfield, England *
  • Mark Allen, Northern Ireland – Scott Donaldson, Scotland
  • 4:30 p.m.

  • Mark Williams, Wales – Michael White, Wales *
  • Neil Robertson, Australia – Ashley Hugill, England
  • 9 p.m.

  • Stuart Bingham, England – Lyu Haotian, China
  • Mark Allen, Northern Ireland – Scott Donaldson, Scotland *
  • Tuesday

    12 o’clock

  • Yan Bingtao, China – Chris Wakelin, England
  • Neil Robertson, Australia – Ashley Hugill, England *
  • 4:30 p.m.

  • Stuart Bingham, England-Lyu Haotian, China *
  • John Higgins, Scotland – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Thailand
  • 9 p.m.

  • Yan Bingtao, China-Chris Wakelin, England *
  • Jack Lisowski, England – Matthew Stevens, Wales
  • Wednesday

    12 o’clock

  • Kyren Wilson, England – Ding Junhui, China
  • John Higgins, Scotland-Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Thailand *
  • 4:30 p.m.

  • Judd Trump, England-Hossein Vafaei, Iran
  • Jack Lisowski, England – Matthew Stevens, Wales *
  • 9 p.m.

  • Kyren Wilson, England-Ding Junhui, China *
  • Luca Brecel, Belgium – Noppon Saengkham, Thailand
  • Thursday

    3 p.m.

  • Luca Brecel, Belgium – Noppon Saengkham, Thailand *
  • 9 p.m.

  • Judd Trump, England-Hossein Vafaei, Iran *
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