‘Calmer’ Ronnie O’Sullivan eases to quarter-final

Ronnie O’Sullivan admitted his motivations have changed when it comes to winning the World Snooker Championship after easing into the quarter-finals with a 13-5 victory over Matthew Stevens.

The five-time world champion needed to win just one frame to book his place in the last eight where he will face Stuart Bingham, although Stevens, who was suffering from a neck injury, won the first frame of the final session before O’Sullivan powered through to the quarter-final.

Trailing 12-4 from Sunday, Stevens cut the gap to seven frames with a 63 break before his 39-year-old opponent ended the contest in the next with a run of 77.