Snooker: O’Sullivan dedicates win to dad

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s first phone call today will be to his behind-bars father Ronnie senior after he secured his first Embassy World Championship crown in Sheffield last night.

The ’Rocket’ never relinquished the early grip he had on the final as he stormed to an 18-14 success over John Higgins which took him up to number two in the world rankings for next season.

But his first thoughts were with his dad, who is nearly nine years into a life sentence for murder on the Isle Of Sheppey.

He was found guilty the day after Ronnie junior qualified for the 1992 UK Championships.

O’Sullivan dedicated his victory to Ronnie senior and his mother Maria, who was in the audience last night.

He said: ‘‘It’s a dream come true, it’s a big weight off my shoulders. I’ve never had an experience like it in my life but I just want to say winning it is for my dad and my mum.

‘‘It’s nice for me but it will mean so much to my mum and sister and my dad loves me to pieces and I love him to bits. That will mean so much to him.

‘‘I’ve not spoken to him for the last day and a half because I’ve been so nervous about what was ahead. I could not have got two words out of my mouth.

‘‘But I hope I can see my dad as soon as possible and I hope to speak to him on Tuesday morning if they let him use the phone in prison.

‘‘I don’t think anything will bring him down now because he knows how much this means. When I see him he’ll explain it to me.’’

O’Sullivan, beaten in three previous semi-finals, had admitted that he should have captured the world title earlier in his career.

But this time he held his explosive game together for the entire 17 marathon days and was able to hold Higgins at arm’s length after winning the opening session 6-2 on Sunday.

When it came to the crunch in the final session it was O’Sullivan who had the nerve and determination to win the crucial frames just when Higgins briefly threatened a revival.

O’Sullivan admitted: ‘‘When I was at the mid-session interval I was thinking ’I wish they could say I’ve won it now’ because it meant so much and with John Higgins out there I was thinking ’this is never going to happen.’

‘‘But I’ve been building myself up over the last year to give me the best opportunity to win this tournament and finally I’ve managed to do it. I’ve played well all tournament.

‘‘I had to play well to beat John because all through the tournament he had been scoring heavily. He’s got everything, bottle, temperament and is a class act.

‘‘I was not physically shaking but mentally I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life but hopefully the experience will stand me in good stead for years to come.’’

Higgins paid a growing tribute to his conqueror and claimed: ‘‘He’s a worthy champion and now he is the player we are all chasing.

‘‘I don’t care about rankings. When Ronnie is in that sort of form he is the tops. He has got to be up there with the greats.

‘‘I would imagine players like Ray Reardon and Cliff Thorburn watching that would never have believed that a player could come through who makes the game look so ridiculously easy. He does that and hats off to him.’’

O’Sullivan’s victory means he is only the third player to win more than £600,000 in a season in prize money after his hero as a youngster, Steve Davis, and Stephen Hendry.