UK Snooker Championship 2017: Ronnie O’Sullivan through as Michael Georgiou CRUMBLES
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN did what was necessary to make it into the third round of the UK Snooker Championship 2017 but Michael Georgiou’s performance made it a whole lot easier for him to progress.
O’Sullivan had lavished praise on his first-round opponent Jackson Page, calling the 16-year-old the best British junior he had ever seen, but nevertheless dispatching him 6-3.
But the Englishman would have been hard pressed to find many similarly complimentary words for Georgiou, who disappeared at the mid-session interval trailing 4-0 with just 19 points to his name.
The interval appeared to have a positive effect as he got himself onto the scoreboard with a break of 60, but O’Sullivan was not to be denied, cruising into the third round with the minimum of fuss 6-1.
And, with world No 1 Mark Selby suffering a shock defeat yesterday, the tournament appears to be O'Sullivan's to lose.
Despite "Jester from Leicester" Selby leading the world rankings by a significant margin, his English rival remains the main event in world snooker, a role he is starting to relish.
Legend of the game Stephen Hendry claimed that not only is O'Sullivan now more results-driven but that he is happy to win with his "B-game", an asset he needed in order to overcome Georgiou.
The first two frames were vintage O'Sullivan as he kept the Cypriot off the table and zipped around the cushions with trademark speed, testing the referee's glovework on a regular basis with his keenness to get on with things.
But while he could not maintain the level, Georgiou was not remotely able to capitalise on the momentary lapses.
He managed his first point of the match in the third frame but had to wait until the fourth to make it into double figures - even then, he could not get anywhere near the rocket.
When the two men left the arena for a break, Georgiou's pot percentage was just 44, compared to O'Sullivan's 90.
The Forest Hill-born player did return to the four-table Barbican Arena to break the duck, managing 60 points at one visit and eventually getting over the line to avoid the whitewash.
However, O'Sullivan experienced no whiteline fever and quickly made it 5-1 before recording his highest break of the match - 82 - to finish off the most comfortable of second-round wins.
The pair will meet again at the Scottish Open next week where they have been drawn against each other and Georgiou might well expect to be facing the reigning UK champion by then.