Ronnie O’Sullivan defeats Gary Wilson 5-1 in the World Grand Prix to get to the last four

In Leicester, Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated Gary Wilson 5-1 to advance to the World Grand Prix semifinals.

Wilson won the first frame, but the world number one responded with three half-centuries and a century to win the next five.

O’Sullivan will face China’s Ding Junhui in the semi-final on Saturday after he defeated fellow countryman Zhang Anda 5-2.

In the Sunday final, the victor will take on either Cao Yupeng or Judd Trump.

This season, Trump has now appeared in five finals. On Friday night (19:00 GMT), he takes on Cao in their best-of-11 last-four match.

O’Sullivan breezes through
Even after winning a record-breaking eighth Masters title last Sunday, O’Sullivan has persisted in doubting his snooker form and future.

But the 48-year-old, who will soon take a two-month vacation from competition to recover for the conclusion of the season, looked sharp against Wilson, the winner of the Scottish Open, hammering home breaks of 68, 129, 78, and 58 as he easily won.

“Gary didn’t get any run of the ball today, everything he did went wrong and everything I did went right – not even the flukes, just the nudges and kisses,” O’Sullivan said ITV4.

“Gary made me feel bad since nobody in the crowd would have noticed it. When I cue well, it seems natural and effortless.

but for that reason, ever since I took home the World Championship in 2022, I have been struggling for at least two years.

“I’ve been playing pretty poorly, and it has frightened me. It is not going as smoothly as it used to, and I’m not sure if that is related to my arm. I feel like I haven’t performed well at all.

“I must have a rather high bar for my awful game because I have won the majority of my tournaments while playing poorly. My biggest strength is definitely just being able to win when I’m not at my best.

In December, O’Sullivan won his eighth UK Championship championship after defeating Ding once more in the opening round of the Masters last week.

In his match against Zhang, Ding, who again dropped the opening frame, recorded breaks of 102, 51, and 73 on his.

With a break of 101 in the seventh frame, Zhang temporarily closed the gap before the world number eleven crossed the finish line with a run of 76.