Ronnie O’Sullivan cruised into the next round of the Welsh Open after completing a 4-0 whitewash over Martin Gould. A whitewash win is nothing when it comes to Ronnie. However, it’s worth the hype this time because he’s now emerged the favorite to win the Welsh Open following Judd Trump’s exit. Juddernaut kissed the Welsh Open goodbye following a surprise defeat by Hossein Vafaei.

Ronnie has been in red-hot form in this year’s edition of Welsh Open. The veteran professional has not lost any frame so far, seeing off competition from Robbie Williams in the opening frame, Jimmy White and now Martin Gould to cruise into the last-16 of the competition.

Gould had the perfect chance to win the first frame. But he let the chance slip and Ronnie punished him for this with a break of 75. Coming into this game, he had a clean slate as well. But playing against a world champ is no small thing.

Before his matchup with Ronnie, Gould also completed two 4-0 wins. However, just like everyone who’s watching, he must have expected a tough encounter having failed to defeat the world champion in any of their previous games.

Gould potted a brilliant red in the second frame but failed to cap it with potting the following black. World number two, Ronnie pounced on that to record a 74 break and establish a two-frame lead.

Gould also had the upper hand in the third frame. The 39-year-old English man could have trimmed down the lead with the final couple of reds on the table. However, he failed a pot into the middle. And once again the ruthless O’Sullivan marched in like a Victor that he is to clean out the frame.

At that point, there was only so much Gould could do. Ronnie O’Sullivan still was unwilling to take chances and played with as much intensity as he did in the first frame. He produced the final red with an incredible cannon

Written by: Roland Arum