Ronnie O'Sullivan plays down latest Masters triumph as attention shifts to Crucible

O’Sullivan recovered from 6-3 down to beat Ali Carter 10-7 in the final at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night and claim a record-extending eighth Masters crown.

The world number one, who also won the UK Championship in December, has now won 23 Triple Crown titles, five more than Stephen Hendry, and can complete a clean sweep of the game’s biggest events with an eighth World Championship title at the Crucible.

However, O’Sullivan was typically self-deprecating when asked if there was any part of his game which was better now than when he won his first Masters title in 1995 at the age of 19.

“I thought when I was 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 I was even better then than I was now to be honest with you,” said O’Sullivan.

“Technically I felt I was much better, more consistent. These days I’m a bit in and out and I search for it.

“It’s got better since 2001 and I’ve had to work on the technical side just to keep things as tight as I can.

“I have some good spells, some good months, good years sometimes, but then I have some awful months and awful years and I just accept that that’s how it is and just try and play my way through it and hopefully it comes good at some point.”

O’Sullivan won £250,000 for each of his UK Championship and Masters victories and can take his earnings from Triple Crown events this season to £1million by claiming the £500,000 first prize on offer in the World Championship.

Carter looked on course for a first Triple Crown title as he opened up a 5-3 lead after the first session and immediately extended his advantage when play resumed.

O’Sullivan reeled off three frames in a row to get back on level terms before Carter made his ninth century of the tournament in the 13th frame, breaking the record set by O’Sullivan in 2007 and 2009.

However, Carter scored just 51 points in the last four frames as O’Sullivan ruthlessly punished any mistake.

“I don’t know how I’ve won this tournament,” said O’Sullivan.

“I’ve just dug deep. I’ve tried to play with a bit of freedom and then tonight I just thought try to keep Ali honest and if he’s going to win it he’s going to have to scrape me off the table.

“I just wanted to see if he had it at the end.

“Ali didn’t play great tonight, he played better this afternoon, but tonight he let me off the hook a few times.

“He was aggressive today but tonight he didn’t take on some of the balls I thought he might have and gave me a little bit of breathing space.”

Asked about his chances of winning an eighth World Championship title at the Crucible, O’Sullivan said: “I always have a good idea round about February, March whether my game’s in good enough shape to win the Worlds.

“At the moment I’d probably say it’s not good enough to feel confident of winning. I can still win it, but I’d like to go there with a bit of confidence with my game.

“Longer sessions you have to learn to cruise, just win most of your games in second gear, but at the moment I feel like I’m having to squeeze everything out just to get a result.”

Carter said: “Obviously I’m gutted I lost, it’s all about winning at the end of the day, but before I rocked up here last week I’d have taken the final so there’s a lot of good things to come for me. I’m heading in the right direction.”