Ronnie O'Sullivan reveals comment he heard before his match with Kyren Wilson that made him try even harder

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed the comment he heard before his match with Kyren Wilson on Thursday that made him try even harder to secure victory.

O’Sullivan pulled off a huge shock in the Saudi Arabia Masters quarter-finals to secure his place in the last four of the competition.

The British snooker star was 5-3 down to Wilson, but managed to come from behind to beat his compatriot 6-5 to progress.

O’Sullivan had edged into a 2-1 lead, only for Wilson to respond by knocking in four half centuries to move within one frame of winning the best-of-11 encounter.

Wilson recently beat O’Sullivan at the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters, a competition the 33-year-old would go on to win.

Yet ‘The Rocket’, who has not won a ranking event in 19 months and barely played competitively since January, exacted revenge upon Wilson to claim an upset in the knockout stages in Saudi Arabia.

"That made me try harder"

And O’Sullivan has revealed the comments before the match with Wilson that spurred the legendary snooker player to lock down his semi-final spot at the Saudi Arabia Masters.

“I looked at a comment that said ‘oh he’s going to get trounced by Wilson tomorrow’ so that made me try a little bit harder,” O’Sullivan revealed after the game against Wilson on Thursday.

“Obviously, everyone was writing me off, didn’t expect me to win, and I kind of like being in that position. I’ve been in that position a few times in my career, and it kind of spurs me on a bit to give the opponent a game, you know?

“I feel like I’ve achieved an amazing result today. I’m 50 years of age soon, playing Kyren [Wilson] in his prime, best player in the world, so for me it’s an amazing result.”

O’Sullivan will now face fellow English snooker player Chris Wakelin in the second of today’s Saudi Arabia Masters semi-finals, with their match taking place at 18:00 (GMT).

'The Rocket' looking to claim first Saudi Arabia Masters crown

Wakelin, who is ranked number 16 in the world, got the better of Barry Hawkins to set up a meeting with O’Sullivan.

In the other semi-final, Australian Neil Robertson takes on Elliot Slessor, with the ‘Thunder from Down Under’ tipped to secure his spot in the final at Slessor’s expense.

The 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters comes to a head on Saturday, with Judd Trump defeating Mark Williams in the first edition of the event last year.