Ronnie O’Sullivan names his Masters favourite as he doubts Mark Selby belief
Ronnie O’Sullivan has backed Judd Trump as the Masters favourite, saying Mark Selby is his closest challenge but lacks the belief to beat him.
The quarter-final line-up is set, with Trump taking on Ding Junhui and Selby meeting Mark Allen in the last eight.
Elsewhere, Shaun Murphy faces Neil Robertson and world champion Kyren Wilson plays Luca Brecel in a blockbuster set of fixtures played over Thursday and Friday.
The Rocket – who pulled out of the tournament two days before he was due to defend his title – says world number one Trump deserves to be favourite for every tournament he enters and the Masters is no different.
O’Sullivan was extremely impressed by Selby’s opening round win over Ali Carter and sees him as second favourite to Trump, but feels the Jester has an issue when facing the Ace.
The seven-time world champion compared Selby playing Trump to Michael van Gerwen’s struggles against Luke Littler in the World Darts Championship final earlier this month.
‘I obviously think Trump has to be favourite for every tournament he plays, so a lot of us kind of take him out of it and think, who’s second? Who’s the one who might get past him?’ O’Sullivan said on Eurosport.
‘For me, that would have to be Selby at the moment, but I don’t think Selby relishes playing Judd. I think it was like when Van Gerwen played Luke Littler. He looked like he didn’t want to be there, he didn’t fancy the job.
‘I think if Mark can get his head around playing Judd, and that’s all it is because they’re both amazing players, I think he’ll have a great chance, but he’s got to believe he can beat Judd and I’m not sure he quite believes it.
‘But in the form he’s on now maybe he’ll change that approach.’
O’Sullivan may have doubted Selby’s belief against Trump, but he was full of praise for his old rival and how he played in his thrashing of Carter in round one.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen Mark play this well for six or seven years maybe,’ O’Sullivan said on Eurosport. ‘He looks really, really sharp, his safety is always great and he’s scoring really well. You look at the reaction he’s getting out of the cue ball, he’s got all the shots at the moment.
‘It’s impossible to play against, really. You’d have to play like Judd Trump, really top class snooker, to put Selby under a little bit of pressure, but you don’t half have to play some serious snooker to do that.’
Selby and Trump are on opposite sides of the draw at Alexandra Palace so it would be in a blockbuster final if they are to meet this week.
They have met once before in this event, with Trump winning 6-2 on his way to the title in 2019 and the world number one has won their last two meetings, at last year’s Grand Prix and the 2023 UK Championsihp.
The Jester’s last win over Trump came at the 2023 Shanghai Masters, a 6-1 quarter-final victory.
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