Ronnie O’Sullivan speaks out on ‘mad Londoners’ after Masters win over Jack Lisowski | Other | Sport

Ronnie O’Sullivan has admitted that he’d gotten so used to playing without a crowd on tour that seeing ‘mad Londoners’ in the crowd at the Alexandra Palace made him nervous. The seven-time Masters champion showed his class in defeating Lisowski 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

MASTERS RESULTS LIVE

There was a clear buzz in the arena when O’Sullivan walked out for his opening match of the Masters.

And both players struggled to adjust to the atmosphere in the opening frame with the pair guilty of making some mistakes.

O’Sullivan took his opportunity when it came though to take a 1-0 lead before Lisowski responded with an incredible break of 104.

The 46-year-old then found his groove from there on as he began playing up to the boisterous crowd inside Alexandra Palace.

A fabulous 127 break followed to give him a commanding 4-1 lead and it was clear who the crowd were supporting to progress from there on.

And O’Sullivan finished off the match with another sensational break of 125 to seal his place in the quarter-finals.

The former world No 1 admitted after the match that he was a bag of nerves entering the arena to a roudy crowd.

“I was so nervous early on,” he said.