Touring days over for O’Sullivan as he opens his pursuit of Masters

Ronnie O’Sullivan warned he is far from being a snooker also-ran after sending defending champion Ding Junhui tumbling out of the BGC Masters.

But the 36-year-old insisted his days on the tour treadmill are over and declared himself to be ready for the task of playing occasional qualifying events if a limited schedule means he cannot earn sufficient rankings points to stay in the top 16 and gain automatic entry to blue-riband tournaments.

O’Sullivan had another London crowd right behind him as the Masters yesterday made its switch to the Alexandra Palace from Wembley, its home since 1979.

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He rewarded their faith with a 6-4 victory over the Sheffield-based potter who beat Marco Fu in the final 12 months ago, and who O’Sullivan defeated in a 2007 Masters final which was tainted by hostility towards Ding from some audience members which reduced the then teenage Chinese player to tears.

O’Sullivan led 4-1 but was hauled back to 4-4, before edging ahead and then sealing victory with a classy break of 125, with only a missed black denying him a total clearance.

As an invitational event, the Masters carries no world ranking points, so nothing O’Sullivan achieves in the coming week will have an effect on his position.

He currently stands 16th, in real danger of being knocked out of the elite pack of players for the first time since the start of his career. He must be in the top 16 after next month’s Welsh Open, or face having to play a qualifying match to reach the Crucible.

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“I know I’m not ready for the qualifiers,” O’Sullivan said. “I know I’m too good to be playing the qualifiers and that’s not being big-headed.”

But O’Sullivan will not put his personal life on hold for the sake of an automatic place in the World Championship, or any other tournament. “I’m not prepared to travel 28, 29 weeks of the year, living out of a suitcase in hotel rooms,” he said.

The four-time Masters champion gave his backing to the new Masters venue, in which he will play either UK champion Judd Trump or Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals on Thursday, with one eye on the £150,000 top prize come next Sunday’s final.