Ronnie O'Sullivan-Mark Williams H2H record

One of the most noticable stats in Snooker is the Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Mark Williams H2H. Its very unusual to see such an one sided H2H record between two All-Time Greats who are the same age and from the same era.

You look at Williams and he has done well against Hendry and Higgins. Even has a 3:1 lead over Higgins at the Crucible but he never beat O'Sullivan at the Crucible in 5 attempts. Overall H2H is 32:11 in ROS favour. At one stage Williams hadnt beaten him for 12 years before he scored his first win over the Rocket in the 2014 International Championship.

Why do you think this match up is so much in ROS favour? Is it just because of his scoring power?

TheRocket wrote:One of the most noticable stats in Snooker is the Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Mark Williams H2H. Its very unusual to see such an one sided H2H record between two All-Time Greats who are the same age and from the same era.

You look at Williams and he has done well against Hendry and Higgins. Even has a 3:1 lead over Higgins at the Crucible but he never beat O'Sullivan at the Crucible in 5 attempts. Overall H2H is 32:11 in ROS favour. At one stage Williams hadnt beaten him for 12 years before he scored his first win over the Rocket in the 2014 International Championship.

Why do you think this match up is so much in ROS favour? Is it just because of his scoring power?

There's a saying in boxing: styles make fights.

It's similar in snooker. Willo plays an open game, just like Ronnie. So given that Ronnie is a heavier scorer, it's only normal that he's gonna win.

Assuming that both players are at their best, any player is doomed if he's gonna play an open game against Ronnie.

Ronnie can only be troubled and beat by Selbo and Higgins type players.

The only 2 players that could fight fire with fire are Hendry and Trump. BUT:
- Hendry did that when ROS had not yet peaked
- Trump did it against a past prime ROS.

Johnny Bravo is right. O'Sullivan only loses when he gives his opponent permission to beat him.

Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

Andre147 wrote:Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

Yes, really sad, totally agree with you on that Andre, think he would have been the one everyone was trying to beat over the last decade if he was still around. Gifted player.

Andre147 wrote:Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

It is a real shame. Snooker would have been so much different with Paul. A player with a great style and lots of charisma. We can't know for sure, obviously, but I also think he would have been a great champion.

Johnny Bravo wrote:The only 2 players that could fight fire with fire are Hendry and Trump. BUT:
- Hendry did that when ROS had not yet peaked
- Trump did it against a past prime ROS.

Your statement works also in reverse way :

ROS wins against a past prime Hendry
and a Trump before his peak.

GeF wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:The only 2 players that could fight fire with fire are Hendry and Trump. BUT:
- Hendry did that when ROS had not yet peaked
- Trump did it against a past prime ROS.

Your statement works also in reverse way :

ROS wins against a past prime Hendry
and a Trump before his peak.

I agree with the Hendry bit but do you not think Judd’s at his peak at least since last season?

It will be interesting to see if Judd's best gets better..

TheRocket wrote:One of the most noticable stats in Snooker is the Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Mark Williams H2H. Its very unusual to see such an one sided H2H record between two All-Time Greats who are the same age and from the same era.

You look at Williams and he has done well against Hendry and Higgins. Even has a 3:1 lead over Higgins at the Crucible but he never beat O'Sullivan at the Crucible in 5 attempts. Overall H2H is 32:11 in ROS favour. At one stage Williams hadnt beaten him for 12 years before he scored his first win over the Rocket in the 2014 International Championship.

Why do you think this match up is so much in ROS favour? Is it just because of his scoring power?

It's simply because ROS is a better player in all departments so over the long run he will win the majority of the time, plus they don't really like each other as people so that spurs Ronnie on even more when he plays him, look at Ronnies H2H against Robertson, Ronnie leads 16-7 because when it comes down to it Ronnie is just simply superior in all areas so will beat him most of the time when he is playing properly and focused.

Holden Chinaski wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

It is a real shame. Snooker would have been so much different with Paul. A player with a great style and lots of charisma. We can't know for sure, obviously, but I also think he would have been a great champion.

i'm not sure if Hunter would have in fact become a WC winner for sure but it seems that you kind of have to just go along with that narrative which is repeated so often that everyone just accepts it to be true.

Ck147 wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

Yes, really sad, totally agree with you on that Andre, think he would have been the one everyone was trying to beat over the last decade if he was still around. Gifted player.

It takes more than being just a gifted player though doesn't it, did being gifted help him get over the line against Docerty when 16-9 up?

shanew48 wrote:

Holden Chinaski wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Not only Hendry and Trump, but Paul Hunter could also match Ronnie on the scoring firepower, the 2004 Masters Final proved that.

Such a shame he passed away, I reckon he would have been multiple world champion, 2 world titles at the very least, and become a great of the game.

It is a real shame. Snooker would have been so much different with Paul. A player with a great style and lots of charisma. We can't know for sure, obviously, but I also think he would have been a great champion.

i'm not sure if Hunter would have in fact become a WC winner for sure but it seems that you kind of have to just go along with that narrative which is repeated so often that everyone just accepts it to be true.

I'm not saying he would definitely be a WC winner, we obviously don't know. But he would have definitely been a top contender and would have given us some classic matches. He was great to watch imo.

shanew48 wrote:i'm not sure if Hunter would have in fact become a WC winner for sure but it seems that you kind of have to just go along with that narrative which is repeated so often that everyone just accepts it to be true.

Yeah, pretty uncertain imo. He was involved in some of the greatest matches of the early 2000s, including the big comebacks in the Masters finals, but in the world championship the reverse happened - losing from 5-0 up against Quinten Hann, 12-10 up against Stevens (not the biggest lead, but he had plenty of chances) and of course 15-9 to Doherty. There are quite a few greats who just never won the Worlds.