Let's have a look back on those 2 brilliant days in May then:
A poor early safety from Barry Hawkins gave Ronnie
O’Sullivan the first chance of the World Championship final. An early kick
ruined things for Ronnie though causing him to miss the black, causing the
break to end on just 13. A missed long one from Ronnie, let Hawkins in with his
first opportunity of the final. A missed black to the middle on 4 though showed
his nerves at this early stages, and his need to settle quickly. This left
Ronnie right in amongst them with a decent opening to take the first frame. A
quick fire 74 confirmed that he would do just that and lead Hawkins 1-0. An
easy long red got Hawkins in first in the second frame but he’d only got to 6
before showing his nerves once again with a rash shot with the rest. This
allowed O’Sullivan to get in again straight away, and a brilliant quick fire 92
gave Ronnie a 2-0 lead in no time at all, with a brilliant cross-double sealing
the frame. A decent long pot got Hawkins in first again in the third frame, and
it was important that this time he made it count. He managed to stay on top of
his nerves this time (just about) and compiled a brilliant 88 to get on the
board at 1-2. Another missed long red from Ronnie early in frame four, let
Hawkins in again. A good split of the reds from a red on 23 put Barry in a
great position to level the scores ahead of the interval. Some good recovery
blues to the corner kept the break going, and another well -made break of 81
ensured the scores would be level going into the first interval, and just
reminded Ronnie that he did have a match on his hands here. After the longest
safety battle of the match so far, Hawkins again potted first in frame five
with a decent long red, but failing to get in and out of baulk from the blue
brought the break to a premature end, although an odd shot left Ronnie right in
amongst them, but his break also ended prematurely after a poor shot on the
black with the spider left him out of position. An easy long red got Hawkins
back in again though, and he’d knocked up a 43 point lead before he missed a
red to the middle. He was back in shortly after with a good thin cut to the
corner, as an additional 50 gave him the frame and put him 3-2 in front. It was a missed long pot, and some poor luck
from Barry Hawkins that left Ronnie in early in frame six, and Ronnie had the
reds open immediately from the first blue, giving him a great chance to square the
scores. Ronnie picked off the reds very well and he soon past the winning post
in the frame with a good pink to the middle and an equally good long red
confirming the frame as a contribution of 76 made it 3-3. A really poor safety
from Barry Hawkins at the beginning of the seventh frame left Ronnie O’Sullivan
bang in the balls once again. A great split of the reds on 52 from the black
basically confirmed that Ronnie would lead 4-3 going into the final frame of
the session, once again constructing his break brilliantly and pilling on the
first century of the final, a 113 to move ahead once again. Even at this early
stage, the final frame of the session was crucial with both players knowing
that 4-4 or 5-3 to Ronnie would have a big difference on their mind sets, going
into the evening session. A poor safety from Barry and a decent pot from
Ronnie, meant that the man seeking his 5th World Title was in first
again in the eighth frame, and in pure Ronnie style he made it consecutive
centuries with another brilliant 100 this time to move 5-3 ahead of Barry
Hawkins at the end of the first session of 4 in the 2013 World Championship
final.
The first frame of the first evening session started off
with Hawkins knocking in a good mid-range red, and then an equally good black
to get right in and give himself a good chance to close the gap. Barry failed
to get in and out of baulk from the blue though and his break ended on 27.
Barry got back in again, after Ronnie missed a simple red, but he missed an
easy pink on 22, but Ronnie couldn’t capitalise again with a missed red near
the bottom cushion and Hawkins made an additional 24 to seal the frame and
close to 4-5. Barry was in first again in the tenth frame with a cracking long
pot, and he was in around the black. However, Barry fouled a red with his cue
on 24, but it took a good pot from Ronnie for him to get in with his great
opening to score. Ronnie got a poor split of the reds though and his break
ended on 12. Barry left a red over the corner from his safety though, and
O’Sullivan was back in again, this time with an excellent opportunity to take
this frame, especially after the great pink he potted into the yellow pocket on
1, and an eventual break of 49 left The Hawk needing snookers. He got one but
failed to get the second, and Ronnie potted the green to confirm that he would
lead 6-4. The eleventh frame started off by Ronnie trying to force the yellow
in after a long red, and instead missing it and leaving Hawkins in. He opened
the bunch nicely on simultaneous shots from the blue and then a red to take the
break to 32, but he failed to get on a red from the next blue and had to play
safe. Another terrific long red from Barry got him going again, and an
additional 23 showed Hawkins fight as he closed to a single frame again at 5-6.
A great red to the middle gave Ronnie a great opening early in frame twelve,
and he’d potted 6 reds with 6 blacks before running out of position. The Rocket
was able to add 21 to the score after making a plant, and then Ronnie was
gifted another chance to pot the red he needed and move into a 2 frame lead
again at 7-5. A cracking long pot from Hawkins gifted him the first chance of
the thirteenth frame but he missed a hard red to the yellow pocket, meaning he
could only make 8. He was quickly back in the balls though, after a fantastic
red along the bottom rail, and a nice split of the reds made it into a golden
opportunity. He took the opportunity and made sure he was sticking with Ronnie,
a break of 83 closing to one frame again at 6-7. Some cracking safety from
Barry at the start of frame fourteen forced the mistake from Ronnie, and gift
him a good early chance. That early chance soon turned into an excellent
opportunity to level the scores and that was exactly what he did with a run of
133 to make it 7-7. In the fifteenth,
Barry missed a similar long red to the one he knocked in in the previous
frame, and left a red on for Ronnie, which he potted to give himself an early
opening to go back in front. A good split of the reds from the black on 39,
quickly put him in great shape to make a frame winning contribution, and that
was exactly what he did, knocking another great 103 to lead 8-7. A nice
mid-range red got Ronnie back in and scoring again in the sixteenth frame but
the break ended after a poor positional shot, with The Rocket only making 11.
However, a missed straight long pot from Barry soon after left O’Sullivan with
a great opening once again, and he soon raced into a 9-7 lead with consecutive
centuries, this time making a brilliant 106. Hawkins came up short attempting to
land up to a red on the bottom cushion, leaving Ronnie a red to the middle
which he took to give himself the first chance in the seventeenth and final
frame of the session. Although, Ronnie missed a blue to the corner on 8 and
left The Hawk in with a chance to swoop and win the session 5-4, but he missed
an easy red very early on in the break, as the tension was beginning to tell.
The frame quickly became quite a tactical one, highlighting it’s importance and
the difference between 10-7 and 9-8. Hawkins won the lengthy safety battle,
pulling out a good long pot, and he made
a nice 42 to take a 17 point lead in the frame, but he left Ronnie in, and he
was able to close the gap to 4 before playing a great snooker on the last red,
which Hawkins missed to leave Ronnie a free ball. O’Sullivan potted 2 pinks and
then got on the final red, but couldn’t get on the pink. However, he then
played a stunning snooker behind the pink, which Barry hit, but left on as a
long pot, which Ronnie knocked in to lead by 10 points with 25 left. O’Sullivan
then played the best safety shot of the entire event on the green, but Hawkins
not only got out of it, but fluked the green straight in. Ronnie potted the
brown but couldn’t get on the blue, and lead by 11 with 18 on the table. Barry
potted the blue and pink to make it a black ball frame with the scores level
and a poor safety shot from Hawkins left O’Sullivan a chance to cut the black
in, and he did just that to move into a 10-7 advantage at the end of the first
day of this brilliant final.
The second day of the final started off with both players
getting a wonderful reception to the arena, before O’Sullivan had the first
scoring chance of the session, after a missed long pot from Barry gave The
Rocket an easy opener. However, a bad positional ended the break on 14. Ronnie
was soon back in with a thundering long red, and some good rest shots kept the
break going, but he missed a blue to the corner on 22 and Hawkins was able to
get in for his first chance of the session. His break ended on 30 when he
failed to get the correct cannon on the 4 reds on the bottom cushion. Hawkins
was soon back in again after a missed long red from Ronnie, and he needed to
make this once count. Hawkins cleared up to and including the brown to confirm
that he would close the gap to two again at 10-8. Ronnie was in first in the
next frame after Hawkins left him a tempting red along the cushion, and he made
a nice 54 before not getting the correct split on the reds. Hawkins then called
a foul on himself, and with the poor safety he played in the shot in question,
left Ronnie in with a golden chance to make it 11-8. A break of 76 confirmed
that he would re-take that three frame advantage. The twentieth frame started
off in very scrappy style with neither player able to get in, and the reds
making their way up to the baulk end with every safety shot. A fluked red from
Ronnie put him in all sorts of trouble, because of the safety he’d played and
he was forced into taking on a tough pink, which he missed to leave Barry in
amongst them. Hawkins made a nice break of 46 before he missed frame ball red,
and left Ronnie a chance to counter. A brilliant clearance of 55 made Hawkins
pay for his miss, as Ronnie pulled out all the shots on the last red and the
green amongst others for him to now go four clear at 12-8. Barry was first in
in the twenty-first frame as O’Sullivan missed a red to the yellow pocket and
left the same red on for Barry. He went into the reds on 25, but couldn’t get
on anything nice and had to play an excellent recovery red to keep the chance
going, and turn this into a frame winning opportunity. An excellent break of 90
made sure that Barry Hawkins responded brilliantly to Ronnie’s clearance in the
previous frame, making it 12-9 at the third mid-session interval. Ronnie was at
it again after the break though, getting straight back in with a good long red,
and when he played a great 2 cushion split of the reds from the blue Ronnie had
the frame in the palm of his hands. He didn’t let it go, and went on to make
another century (a 133), his fifth of the final to go 13-9 ahead and 5 frames
from winning the World Title. Hawkins needed to hit back again, and he gave
himself an early chance to do so in the twenty-third frame, with a good long
red to get in. His break ended on 40 after he missed a testing red to the
middle after opening the reds. Hawkins got back in again, but he missed a tough
black shortly after, leaving Ronnie another chance to steal a frame that
Hawkins should’ve won. A great clearance of 67 really damaged Barry’s hopes as
O’Sullivan now moved 14-9 ahead. A poor safety from O’Sullivan though gave The
Hawk an early opening in frame twenty-four, but a horrible kick on 40 caused
Barry to miss the pink and give Ronnie yet another opportunity to go on the
counter-attack, but he missed on 38. Hawkins was able to get back in after the
safety battle, and a clearance of 47 kept him in the match at 14-10 with one
frame left of the afternoon session on day two. Hawkins was first in in that
final frame of the third session, but he failed to make any more than 7. A
brilliant double from Ronnie gifted him an opening to score. A clever cannon on
the reds from the black took the break to 19, and put him in a great position
to make a lot lot more. He did make more, and his sixth century of the match, a
124 this time, put Ronnie O’Sullivan 3 frames from the title at the end of the
penultimate session as he led 15-10.
The final session started well for Barry Hawkins, needing to
play brilliantly he started off with an excellent long pot. Things only got
better for Hawkins as he picked the reds off nicely and put a brilliant break
together as a 127 total clearance helped him close to 11-15. A poor escape at
the start of frame twenty-seven didn’t help The Hawk, as it left The Rocket in
with an early scoring chance. However, Ronnie missed a simple red on the
stretch on 18, and Barry potted a nice red to get in and then split the pack
well from the pink well to give him a great opening. Barry played some
brilliant shots in the break and took everything phenomenally a run of 66
leaving O’Sullivan needing 2 snookers with 2 reds left. O’Sullivan then went in
off, and Hawkins potted the penultimate red with the blue which was more than
enough to make it 12-15. Hawkins was in first in the next as well after a bad
error from the defending champion, and if the Australian Open champ could make
this count then he would have every chance of winning the match. Hawkins missed
a red along the bottom rail though, and left it for Ronnie to get in and punish
Barry’s error. O’Sullivan picked off the free reds nicely and then on 47 he
opened the reds nicely from the pink, leaving the frame at his mercy. A
brilliant break of 77 practically gave him the frame, despite Hawkins coming
back for 3 snookers, but he missed the black from the penultimate red and
conceded to give O’Sullivan a 16-12 lead, leaving him needing only 2 more to
take the ultimate title. A missed long red from O’Sullivan early in the
twenty-ninth frame left Hawkins in, but a kick after a poor positional shot
meant he only made 8 and gave the chance back to Ronnie. He opened the pack
well on 30, and looked ever more likely to go one frame from victory. It was a
wonderful break of 88 that did it for O’Sullivan as he went into the final
mid-session break leading 17-12. A great red to the yellow pocket going things
going for O’Sullivan after the interval, and the writing looked like it was on
the wall for Barry Hawkins very early on. Once Ronnie had potted frame ball he
gave it a fist pump to show what winning back-to-back World Titles meant to
him, especially after taking a year off. A break of 88 sealed the deal, and the
18-12 victory, and Ronnie gave another fist pump to his family after
congratulating Hawkins on his brave effort, and once Ronnie Junior joined him
in the main arena things were complete for him, and they were richly deserved.
I said it at the time, and I’ll say it again now that loads of credit has to go
to Barry Hawkins for being the man that has pushed O’Sullivan the most in a
World Final, and he played brilliantly throughout the whole event, and made
this into the classic match that it was.
It wasn't an unbelievably close contest, but what it did provide was something different from the boring runaway O'Sullivan wins, with some brilliant break-building shown off by both players this time. We all knew how good Ronnie was, but Hawkins proved throughout the event that he is a top top player. So, did you enjoy my Christmas Eve offering, and can't wait to find out who will hit 8th on the classic countdown? Well you'll have to wait until Christmas Day itself to find out.
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