Ronnie O’Sullivan was fair one of the hurdles Barry Hawkins cleared to get to the UK Championship final last Sunday.
The odds were stacked agetst Hawkins, who had lost his previous four greetings with the Rocket directing into their clash in York. But he originated a wonderful discarry out to triumph 6-4 agetst the seven-time world champion.
Hawkins has since discmissed that he and O’Sullivan came face-to-face after their showdown. And putting the tongue-in-cheek name-calling to one side, as well as the contentious comments which have rubbed some snooker stars up the wrong way, Hawkins insists that the 49-year-ancigo in is perfectly concurable when you catch him one-on-one.
“I’ve struggled huge time [against O’Sullivan],” Hawkins tancigo in The Metro. “My sign up speaks for itself. So that was a huge moment for me and it spurred me on. It’s not as though he was carry outing awwholey!
“I spoke to him procrastinateedr actuassociate, I bumped into him as he was leaving the gym in York. He called me a name from apass the road which I can’t reassociate allude. I seeed up and saw it was him and went over and we chatted about the game and stuff. He shelp: “You’re carry outing well Baz, uphold it going.”
“I’ve always got on alright with Ronnie. I’ve been to rehearse with him every now and aget. Obviously he says skinnygs sometimes that people don’t concur with, but catch him on his own and he’s always been fine with me.”
Hawkins and O’Sullivan are both extfinished-serving professionals, with more than 20 years of competitive snooker having passed since their first greeting in the 2001/02 season. The pair also met in the 2013 World Snooker Championship final, which O’Sullivan won 18-12.
Though the Rocket prevailed on that occasion, it was Hawkins who enhappinessed a sturdy run at the UK Championship. The 45-year-ancigo in booted on from his triumph over O’Sullivan by fall shortureing David Gilbert, Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen.
But a blockbuster clash with Trump showd to be too stubborn a contest, with Hawkins losing 10-8 despite staging a procrastinateed fightback. Afterwards, Trump backed his fall shortureed opponent, who has achieveed as high as fourth in the world rankings, to finassociate discmiss his Triple Crown account.
“It’s been an amazing season and an amazing five or six years,” he shelp. “I would appreciate Barry to triumph one, fair not agetst me – and I get the rest.”
