Ronnie O’Sullivan mocks snooker rival with new ‘midnight’ nickname as he blames them for his Saudi debut not finishing until 3am… insisting it is a ‘nightmare’ to follow his old foe

Ronnie O’Sullivan took a cheeky swipe at Mark Selby after the Rocket’s win over John Higgins didn’t end until around 3am in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The seven-time World Snooker Champion easily advanced to the next round of the inaugural season’s World Snooker Masters in Riyadh with a stunning one-sided 4-0 victory over Higgins, who failed to pot a single ball.

However, the match did not start until 1:45am local time due to Mark Allen’s dramatic 4-3 comeback win over Selby earlier in the night, which lasted almost three and a half hours.

Jack Lisowski in interview for Eurosport praised O’Sullivan before adding: “You’ve done us a favour, because it’s getting late here.”

O’Sullivan laughed before looking at his watch and replying: ‘Selby, I call him ‘Midnight Selby’ because his games go past midnight every game; it’s a nightmare.

Selby’s 4-3 loss to Mark Allen lasted nearly three and a half hours in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

O’Sullivan said he called his rival ‘midnight Selby’ because his games ‘always go past midnight’.

“You don’t want to follow Mark because you’ll move on to the next day.”

Asked if it seemed like 3am, O’Sullivan added: “No. Listen, when I’m tired, I sleep and I had a good few hours today so I feel like I’m getting going. I will continue playing if the fans want it. They’ve all already gone home.

When told that the day’s matches had been entertaining, O’Sullivan replied: “Have? To be honest, I haven’t seen any, I’ve just been relaxing.

—But yes, I know. Listen, the best players play against each other, so there will always be good games, unless it’s Mark and Mark today. You know, it was a little annoying, right? Even Mark Allen said, “That was tough.” But if.’

O’Sullivan previously commented that Selby and Allen “should have their own comedy show” after they were removed early during the second session of their World Snooker Championship semi-final last year due to the length of their match.

“The crowd seemed to enjoy it,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport at the time. ‘There will be some people at home who would like to see pool like this.

‘Some people like to watch the attacking game, others like the defensive game: figuring it all out, watching every shot.

‘Maybe they should create their own comedy show together, they’d make a good double act with the referee involved! They are good friends, very fun.

Ronnie O’Sullivan recorded a dominant 4-0 victory over John Higgins on Tuesday in Riyadh.

The Rocket was not the only player to express frustration over the delayed schedule in the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Ali Carter lost 4-1 to Luca Brecel and gave a thorny post-match interview in which he criticized the referee and complained about the delay. ‘I got here and I’m waiting four hours to play.

‘There is a long way to go and we have to deal with it. It’s a big event and it’s very raw right now. It’s a great opportunity for someone to win such a great event. For everything to go wrong today, from the beginning, is very frustrating.”

O’Sullivan will face Judd Trump in Wednesday’s semifinal, with Allen and Brecel facing off in the other match.