Ronnie O’Sullivan’s frank admission on the eve of the defence of his World Snooker Championship crown that he was an “old man” and finding it harder to contend with the travails of the game he has dominated for so long left you wondering if, just maybe, he was foreshadowing an almighty upset at the hands of Pang Junxu on the opening day of this year’s tournament.
While age will eventually catch up with O’Sullivan, it seems that battle has not yet been lost. Opening-round victories at the Crucible are rarely glamorous but they are often tricky to navigate. Just ask O’Sullivan, who fell to a stunning defeat to the then amateur James Cahill in the first round here four years ago. As such, this was not vintage O’Sullivan in the opening act of his quest for a record-breaking world title number eight: but it was ultimately enough to get the job done.
