Ronnie O’Sullivan reveals what ‘turned him on’ in Masters final win over old foe Ali Carter

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN revealed he was “turned on” by testing whether opponent Ali Carter had the bottle to win the Masters final.

The Rocket came from behind to win after trailing 5-3 heading into the evening session.

PA

Ronnie O’Sullivan said he was turned on by testing Ali Carter’s bottle[/caption]

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Carter’s wait for his first major continues following O’Sullivan’s 10-7 victory[/caption]

He won the final four frames to claim a 10-7 victory, defeating his old foe Carter for the 23rd time in his career.

After the match O’Sullivan said he did not feel confident at the table and knew he would have to battle to claim his eighth Masters trophy.

And one major motivation for the win was testing whether Carter, who has never won a snooker major, had the bottle to get over the line.

O’Sullivan told Eurosport: “The balls went in and I got the result. I just had to keep Ali honest, I thought let’s see if he had the bottle to get over the line.

“That was the only thing that turned me on tonight. Let’s just get him to that point. I want to see if he twitches. I love seeing it when their bottle goes. I love it.

“You can play terrible and still get them in that position and it’s like, let’s see if you can do it? That’s what was driving me on tonight, get him to that point to go, come on, let’s see if you’ve got it.

“Not many people have. It’s a good place to find out, when you’re out there. Most of them do [feel it] there’s very few that don’t. That’s my main asset really now, I just get them to that point and go, okay it’s about potting big balls and holding yourself together.

“There’s a few on the tour that can do it but not many, so I always like to get them in that situation and see if they can produce.

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“You know when someone’s bottling it, I’m not saying Ali did, but he let me off the hook tonight, he gave me some breathing space and that gave me a little bit of confidence.”

Carter, who lost to O’Sullivan in the World Snooker Championship final in 2008 and 2012, upset some fans after refusing to wear his runners-up medal following the defeat.