O'Sullivan happy with his lot

Ronnie O’Sullivan insisted he would not trade his achievements with anyone else in the game after clinching a fourth Maplin UK Championship title.

Last night’s victory gave the 32-year-old the 19th ranking tournament success of his career, and few will have been more straightforward than this 10-2 win over Stephen Maguire at the Telford International Centre.

Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry may have won more titles than the new provisional world number one – Davis has 28 victories in ranking tournaments and six world titles while the Scot has an even more impressive CV with 36 and seven to his name respectively.

But O’Sullivan, who recorded nine 50-plus breaks on the way to this latest triumph, revealed he gains far greater satisfaction from pleasing the crowds.

He said: “I feel like I’ve given a lot to the people and I’ve given a lot to snooker in the way I play.

“I may not have won the world titles of Hendry and Davis, but I think in years to come when people talk about snooker they might talk about me in the way they talk about (Mike) Tyson in boxing.

“I’ve brought excitement to the people and I would take that over seven world titles.”

O’Sullivan certainly provided value for money in the afternoon session as he raced into an 8-0 lead, showing no signs of a hangover from the equally breathtaking 147 break which booked his place in the final.

Maguire restored some pride with two half-centuries in the ninth and 11th frames, but it was a case of when rather than if as O’Sullivan recorded his two biggest breaks of the match, 126 and 94, to complete victory in under an hour.

“I don’t know any other way to play and if that’s flamboyant or steady, I don’t know,” he added.

“I play the balls how I see them and I know instinctively what’s going on during the game. I’m aware of the tempo, the feeling, my opponent – I’m an experienced campaigner now.”

Maguire, the 2004 champion, waded into the debate by backing the claims of compatriot Hendry. “I’m all for titles,” he said.

“I still think Hendry is the best because he has won so many titles. It’s just the way Hendry and Davis are off the table. They were very focused off it which is very hard to do.

“You only get a couple of people like that and probably if Ronnie was as focused as those two, which obviously he is not, then he could probably win as many titles as that as well.

“Then he would be the best. But I wouldn’t call him the best until he has won more titles than Hendry.”

The Northern Ireland Trophy holder will at least be consoled by the fact he has climbed to provisional world number two and will have an opportunity to exact revenge when the pair meet again in the SAGA Insurance Masters in January.