Ronnie O’Sullivan says Judd Trump remains the ‘man to beat’ at the World Snooker Championship and is the rightful favourite to lift the trophy on Monday.
The semi-final line-up at the Crucible is now set, with Trump taking on Mark Williams and O’Sullivan facing Zhao Xintong.
Those four men came through a memorable day of quarter-final action on Wednesday, with Trump impressive in beating Luca Brecel, O’Sullivan under par in downing Si Jiahui, Zhao not at his best in victory over Chris Wakelin, while Williams won a black ball, deciding frame classic with John Higgins.
Few would argue that Trump has not shown the best form of the four remaining players and that is certainly O’Sullivan’s opinion.
The Rocket has no shortage of respect for his long-time rival Williams, but expects Trump to book a place in the final.
‘You’ve got to fancy Judd haven’t you,’ O’Sullivan told TNT Sports. ‘I know Mark’s done tremendously well and Mark always gives Judd a good game, but I think on form so far this week.
‘I think Judd’s been strong in pretty much all of his games so he’s going to be the man to beat.’
O’Sullivan has been backing Trump for success throughout the event, saying it was a toss up between the world number one and last year’s champion Kyren Wilson for who would be favourite before a ball was struck.
‘Him and Kyren are always the two favourites for any tournament, they’ve been by far the two best players,’ said the seven-time world champ.
‘I know [Mark] Selby has nicked in with his tournaments and John [Higgins] has nicked in with his but those two have been dominating, playing really strong snooker.
‘I know it wasn’t intentional to not win as much from January to April because you always want to win tournaments, but in some ways the build-up has been perfect.
‘Whereas Kyren was winning a lot of events and winning a bit too much. I think Judd was chomping at the bit a bit more, definitely the man to beat coming in, I think he had the best preparation.’
Trump has won there big titles so far this season, lifting the trophies at the Shanghai Masters, Saudi Arabia Masters and UK Championship.
That most recent triumph in York came back on December 1, so it is five months now since Trump got his hands on some silverware.
O’Sullivan is sure that is only a positive, though, feeling that Wilson, who has won two titles and been to two more finals in 2025, has over-played.
Speaking after Wilson’s shock first round defeat to Lei Peifan on the opening night of the tournament, the Rocket told TNT Sports: ‘He’s gone deep in a lot of tournaments, won a lot of tournaments and although he’s played alright today, if you look at the last two winners of the World Championship, himself and Luca Brecel have both come in very fresh.
‘I just think to win this World Championship, you need to come in doing well, but at some point around February, you need to say ‘it’s all about the World Championship’.
‘I just think he played in too many tournaments he didn’t need to play in. I see him playing [in one tournament], then the next day he’s at Leicester playing for 7 or 8 days. Really, you want to be chilling out and putting your cue down.
‘It’s a fine line and when you come here you want to come with a spring in your step and play your way into form rather than being really at your limit because it will go the other way.
‘I think with Kyren he could have maybe missed a few tournaments he didn’t necessarily need to play if this is the one you want to win.’
O’Sullivan continued: ‘I always think come in a bit undercooked. Take a month off from playing. When you’ve been playing all season, it really won’t make any difference.
‘If you can just take a little week off here and there from February, you can come in a bit fresher and you need to be for this tournament. To me, he’s played too much match snooker.’