2016/2017 season: UK Championship runner-up and record seventh Masters title Ronnie O'Sullivan

o sullivan @ 2016 european masters in bucharest, romania

o sullivan began 2016/2017 season late, @ shanghai masters. in first round, defeated liang wenbo 5–4 after recovering 1–4 down. first professional tournament match in 5 months. however, far progressed, in second round lost 2–5 michael holt. competing in inaugural european masters, o sullivan defeated david gilbert 4–1 in first round, mark allen 4–2 in second round, mark davis 4–1 in quarterfinals , whitewashed neil robertson 6–0 in semi-final. facing judd trump in final, o sullivan took 5–3 lead after first session. in second session, o sullivan further led 8–6 before losing 8–9. in first of home nations series of tournaments, @ inaugural english open, o sullivan defeated jimmy robertson 4–0 in first round, zhao xintong 4–3 in second, lost chris wakelin in third 3–4. @ international championship, o sullivan beat xiao guodong 6–4 in first round , kurt maflin 6–4 in second reach last 16. however, defeated michael holt 4–6, making third consecutive loss holt in 2016.

o sullivan returned action in champion of champions. won group defeating robin hull 4–2 in first round , martin gould 6–2 in second, , beat mark allen 6–2 in semi-final impressive performance including 3 century breaks. o sullivan not reproduce same form in final , lost 7–10 john higgins. @ inaugural northern ireland open, o sullivan defeated david john 4–1 in first round, jimmy white 4–1 in second, , zhang anda 4–0 in third. kyren wilson edged out o sullivan 3–4 in fourth round after o sullivan had staged comeback 3 consecutive century breaks after going 0–3 behind.

at uk championship, o sullivan produced dominant displays in opening rounds defeating boonyarit keattikun 6–0 in first, rhys clark 6–0 in second , michael georgiou 6–1 in third. beat matthew stevens 6–2 in fourth round, mark williams 6–2 in quarter-finals, , marco fu 6–5 in tense semi-final, winning deciding frame decisive break of 130. in final, o sullivan played mark selby. in first session after o sullivan went 2–1 up, selby took advantage of errors o sullivan win 5 straight frames. however, in high quality second session, o sullivan fought close within 1 frame @ 7–8, selby prevailed winning next 2 frames , title 7–10. in last 6 frames of match, total of 5 century breaks made, 2 o sullivan of 134 , 130. defeat marked first time o sullivan had lost in uk championship final , third consecutive defeat in major final in season.

o sullivan ended 2016 @ scottish open. defeated matthew selt 4–2 in first round, adam stefanow 4–1 in second, jimmy white 4–2 in third , mark allen 4–2 in last 16. beaten 2–5 john higgins in quarter-finals.

in new year, o sullivan returned masters defending champion. defeated liang wenbo 6–5 in dramatic first-round match. in tenth frame, liang missed final black in clearance have given him victory. after potting black, o sullivan went on produce break of 121 in deciding frame win match. o sullivan beat neil robertson 6–3 in quarter-finals, , marco fu 6–4 in semi-finals reach twelfth masters final despite problems cue tip. in final, defeated joe perry 10–7 win seventh masters title, setting record number of title wins @ tournament. after tournament, o sullivan received disciplinary letter world snooker on comments made press after match fu. criticised referee terry camilleri s performance , photographer during post-match interviews. led o sullivan stating no longer give in-depth answers in interviews or press conferences, claiming when share thoughts, risk being fined .

at german masters, o sullivan lost 4–5 mark king in last 32 despite leading 4–1. o sullivan entered world grand prix seeded fifth on one-year ranking list. defeated yan bingtao 4–2 in first round, lost 1–4 neil robertson in second. in final event of home nations series, welsh open, o sullivan progressed past tom ford 4–1 in first round. defence ended mark davis, beat him 3–4 in second round after o sullivan had led 3–0.

o sullivan entered players championship seeded 7th on one-year ranking list. defeated liang wenbo 5–1 in first round, defeated 3−5 judd trump in quarter-finals. @ china open, o sullivan defeated gareth allen 5−0 in first round, upset 4−5 mark joyce in second.

on eve of world championships, o sullivan attended 40th anniversary celebration of crucible theatre holding world snooker championship past champion. o sullivan faced debutant gary wilson in first round. won 5 of first 6 frames before wilson fought winning 3 consecutive frames trail 5−4 @ end of first session. in high scoring second session, o sullivan went on defeat wilson 10−7 , celebrated repeatedly punching air. speaking media @ length first time since masters, o sullivan attacked wpbsa during post-match press conference using threatening language in communications him , said no longer bullied governing body in future. jason ferguson, chairman of wpbsa, , barry hearn, chairman of world snooker, denied allegations. past champions john higgins , stuart bingham backed o sullivan higgins expressing sympathy him , bingham saying had point . however, 2005 champion shaun murphy claimed o sullivan s comments wrong . added further intrigue ahead of second round clash of o sullivan , murphy. o sullivan later issued statement saying not making further comment during championships , instead focus on quest sixth world title .

during second round match, o sullivan opened 4 frame advantage on murphy in first session lead 6−2. in second session, o sullivan maintained advantage lead 10−6 going final session. third session saw no comeback murphy , o sullivan progressed quarter-finals 13−7. quarter-finals furthest o sullivan progress, fell behind ding junhui 6–10 after opening 2 sessions. despite scoring tournament s highest break 146 in final session, lose 10–13. following loss, o sullivan stated had no intention of retiring.