RONNIE O’SULLIVAN left old rival Ali Carter “embarrassed” after storming to a 10-4 win in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.
Rocket, 49, was in devastating form as he capitalised on his 5-4 overnight lead to rattle off five straight frames and reach the second round at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan wasn’t even sure if he’d enter the tournament after pulling out of a host of tournaments this year.
But the snooker legend fired a warning to his rivals as he looked unplayable on Wednesday.
Speaking to the BBC after the loss, Carter said: “I was always in it at 5-4, but Ronnie got going.
“I kept finding myself in awkward positions, and it went from bad to worse.
“It begins to get a bit embarrassing, but against the best of all time it is not easy. He was the much better player today.
“It’s not the end [to the season] I wanted, but Ronnie is the hardest first-round draw, the one no-one wants to play.”
Crucible legend Stephen Hendry even suggested O’Sullivan’s killer instinct is still very much there.
The Scot said: “He’s been out of the game for a while, you wonder if he is still going to be as good at close matches out – here’s your answer.
“The first sniff of winning the match and it’s done.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Ronnie O’Sullivan makes 147 in warm-up for Snooker World Championship in major hint he’ll play ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6371269951112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]O’Sullivan himself was just happy to make it through unscathed.
He said: “I had no expectations so there were no nerves.
“I didn’t expect to perform well based on the last three or four years. I just wanted to make a game of it.
“Ali had his chances yesterday, on another day he would be 6-3 up [after the first session], and again today he had a couple of chances. I cued a lot better than I did yesterday.
“I have some mental tools to work with to keep things tight, I will always tinker, but it’s about when to let go I suppose.”
On his recent struggles, O’Sullivan admitted: “It ground me down, this game has a way of humbling you.
“I lost the buzz for the game, when you are not able to play the shots, I was having to bail out on a lot, I didn’t have any range.
“I’m just trying to work my way back, rediscover some touch and feel.”