Ronnie O'Sullivan not pleased with his own UK Championship performance against Robert Milkins - 'I was butchering balls'

ByEurosport

Published 30/11/2023 at 17:45 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan scraped past Robert Milkins to reach the quarter-finals of the UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York. The world No. 1 admitted to Eurosport after the match that he was nowhere near his best, saying he was "butchering balls all over the gaff", and Eurosport pundits Reanne Evans and Jimmy White felt Milkins will regret not winning the decider.

O'Sullivan reacts to 'butchering balls all over the gaff' in UK Championship win

Ronnie O'Sullivan says he would have been happy for Robert Milkins if he beat him after scraping through to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship.

O'Sullivan was forced into a final-frame decider against 'The Milkman', but showed enough composure to progress to the UK Championship quarter-finals for the 20th time in his career with a 6-5 win.

The world No. 1 admitted he was far from his best against Milkins and that he would have been happy for "lovely guy" Milkins if he had progressed to the last eight instead of him.

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"It was a tough start. I was missing balls over the gaff," he told Eurosport.

"I had to dig my way out of it somehow. Even at 4-2, I never felt settled. There was no flow, I was mis-timing shots, I was butchering balls all over the gaff.

"If that carries on, it doesn't matter how big your lead is if the other guy starts to pot a few together you're going to be in trouble. That's always not a good feeling.

"Sometimes you've got to show your frustration and then say 'forget it, it's done'.

'Oh dear!' - O'Sullivan tosses cue on table in frustration over bounce

"I'd have been happy for Rob if he'd won. He's such a lovely guy. He's been on tour for years. He's had a good couple of seasons. I'm in a nice position where I'm just playing and having a bit of fun really... trying to be competitive.

"As a neutral, it would have been nice to see Rob win."

Reanne Evans, watching in the Eurosport studio, said Milkins would be "spewing" after missing a handful of glorious opportunities to beat the seven-time UK champion in the final-frame decider.

"Robert will be absolutely gutted not having won a match against Ronnie before," she said. "Getting so close and having so many chances he'd be spewing in his dressing room."

'Ronnie will be relieved!' - White reacts to tense victory for O'Sullivan

Jimmy White agreed with Evans that Milkins would regret not being able to win the match and felt O'Sullivan was "below par".

"Ronnie was below par," he said.

"I think a few of them got a few big bounces. Ronnie got one there in the last game getting on two reds. Milkins had one where he potted a blue coming down from two reds the game before. Ronnie will be relieved to get over the line.

"Rob Milkins will be sick because he missed a very easy pink at the beginning of that game and he should have made up 40 before he really had to play a difficult shot.

"Ronnie will be relieved to get over the line there for sure."

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