Shanghai Masters snooker: 'Ridiculous' scenes when Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby last met in bitter clash of styles
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ByEurosport
Updated 14/09/2023 at 20:02 GMT
The latest chapter of one of snooker's fiercest rivalries will be played out when Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby meet in a best-of-19 frame semi-final at the Shanghai Masters. O'Sullivan leads the career head-to-heads 16-11 since their first meeting at the 2002 China Open quarter-finals with Selby winning 5-3. It will also be their first clash since Selby won 9-3 in the 2020 Scottish Open final.
'Ridiculous' - Watch bizarre scenes over black between O'Sullivan and Selby
Fierce rivals Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby will meet for the first time in three years when the former world champions clash in the Shanghai Masters semi-finals on Friday (live on Eurosport and discovery+ from 7am BST).
Their last meeting in the Scottish Open final in December 2020 was played behind closed doors in Milton Keynes due to the pandemic with Selby running out a 9-3 winner amid several bad-natured and farcical moments.
With Selby leading 2-1 and 76-25 and only the pink and black left up in the fourth frame, O'Sullivan refused to concede the frame when his opponent holed the final pink to move 82-25 ahead.
With only the black left up, O'Sullivan – who is 16-11 ahead on the career head-to-heads – had to be stopped from playing on after being informed by referee Leo Scullion that the frame was finished amid crowd applause being played over a loud speaker.
Eurosport analyst Neal Foulds did not see the purpose of continuing to play on and said: "Well, the frame is over. This is ridiculous. There is no more playing on now. There is nothing more to see."
Jimmy White agreed with Fouls in the studio, commenting: "I don't know what that was all about. It's a bit of a confusing situation.
"I can understand playing on when there's a few reds left, but with just the pink and black left and a long way behind, I don't see the value in that at all."
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'Ridiculous' - Watch bizarre scenes over black between O'Sullivan and Selby
There was also accusations of gamesmanship from both figures.
Selby claimed O’Sullivan was chalking his cue to distract him early in the final with the counter argument being made that Selby’s water bottle was making unwanted noise. No handshake or fist bumps were exchanged at the end of the match.
“I’m playing a long red into the corner and he stood up,” said Selby. “I could see him in my eyeline and just as I’m about to play the shot he started chalking his cue quite loudly.
“I got up off the shot and looked at him and he raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘sorry I didn’t realise I was doing it’.
“But he knew exactly what he was doing and I managed to play the shot and potted it. I'm too long in the tooth for his antics and what he tries to do sometimes."
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O'Sullivan complains to referee about Selby then misses red
O’Sullivan retorted by asking the referee to intervene in the fourth frame when he claimed his rival was making noise with a water bottle.
“He thought I was chalking my cue and putting him off, but I wasn’t even in his eyeline,” said O’Sullivan. “I was in my chair when he was playing a safety shot.
"I found that a bit strange, so when he started doing that I thought ‘I might as well pull you up’.
“So I said ‘any chance you cannot do it when I’m on my shot?’ But there’s no issue between me and Mark, I think we have to thank each other for driving us to be better players.”
Defending Shanghai Masters champion O'Sullivan booked his spot in the semi-finals after hitting back from 5-2 behind to complete a 6-5 win over John Higgins on Thursday, while Selby enjoyed a 6-1 win over Judd Trump.
World champion Luca Brecel overcame Robert Milkins 6-3 later on with Neil Robertson running out a 6-1 win over Fan Zhengyi in the other quarter-final matches.
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