O’Sullivan’s ‘last throw of dice’ sees him avoid first-round tumble

The three-times Crucible champion had not won a match at a ranking event since September and had crashed out in the first round of the last four major tournaments.

O’Sullivan has struggled with personal problems and even pulled out of the Betfred.com World Championship 12 days ago only to do a U-turn before he put the decision in writing.

But after an impressive 10-2 first-round win over Dominic Dale yesterday, O’Sullivan said sessions with a sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters – who also worked with the Olympic cycling team in 2008 – were “the last throw of the dice” to revive his career.

“I enjoyed that as much as I did the first time I played at the Crucible,” said O’Sullivan. “I didn’t want it to end, I wanted to keep playing.

“I’ve never felt like that before. Even when I was 16-4 up on Stephen Hendry in the semi-finals here, I had doubts that I could get over the line.

“The most important thing for me is to want to be out there. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, that’s just part of sport.

“I love the game but I have suffered with it. I’ve tried coaches and psychologists to help me keep going, and this is the last throw of the dice.

“It doesn’t mean I’m going to win the tournament and I’ve got nothing to prove, I just want to try to play for as long as I can.

“I won’t disclose what (the psychology sessions) are about. It won’t make me a better snooker player but hopefully it will allow me to feel 99 per cent as good as the other players feel, so I’m on a level playing field.”

O’Sullivan, who has tumbled down the world rankings to No 10, is in a tough half of the draw. He faces 2005 champion Shaun Murphy in the second round and could face tournament favourite John Higgins in the quarter-finals.

But he stressed: “I don’t care because I’ve never seen a player I couldn’t beat. I’m looking forward to the next match and even if I lose I’ll be back. If I keep feeling like I did (yesterday), then I could win more world titles.”

O’Sullivan – whose last ranking tournament win came 19 months ago at the Shanghai Masters – returned with an overnight 7-2 lead and wasted little time in wrapping up a one-sided victory.

Only a missed yellow prevented him from chalking up three successive century breaks in front of a packed Crucible crowd.

He knocked in 115 and 100 either side of a 96 which only broke down when a double on the yellow failed to drop.

From 2-2, 35-year-old O’Sullivan had reeled off eight successive frames and in this mood will be hard to beat on his 19th appearance at the Crucible.

Marco Fu lost in the first round to Martin Gould last year but was looking good to take revenge for that defeat, as the 33-year-old Hong Kong potter built a 6-3 lead against the man from Pinner.

Rory McLeod and Ricky Walden were hauled off after eight of their scheduled nine frames due to slow play. The English pair were tied at 4-4.

Last year’s runner-up Graeme Dott made a much brisker start, the Larkhall cueman opening up a 6-3 advantage over Romford’s Mark King.