In Tuesday’s first session against two-time Crucible finalist Carter, neither player was at their best, with it seemingly finely balanced at 5-4 to O’Sullivan.
But on Wednesday, ‘The Rocket’ was in sensational form, winning all five frames and not letting Carter score a point in four of them.
O’Sullivan made breaks of 59, 117, 74, 123 and 131, but in the post-match news conference stressed he was trying to “rebuild” his technique after losing faith in his ability.
He said: “I couldn’t even watch myself play as I could see what was wrong. I just couldn’t correct it and every time you make a change you think ‘this is terrible’.
“I’ve changed my alignment, changed certain things. I had lost all connection with the cue, the timing had gone, the touch had gone, feeling had gone. Years and years of that mounted up and it got to the point where I couldn’t play and it got too much.
“It got to the point where I couldn’t pull the cue forwards and backwards, which was quite scary.”
Read full article at source
exeter.one newsbite last confirmed 5 hours ago by Michael Emons
Stay informed about this story by subscribing to our regular Newsletter
