Ronnie O'Sullivan tells 'unbelievable' Ben Mertens to embrace pressure after Welsh Open match
Ronnie O’Sullivan believes that 18-year-old Ben Mertens has an “unbelievable” future in the game, but has told the Belgian to embrace the pressure on him. Mertens — who is playing his first season as a pro — appeared to be overawed by the man he describes as his hero as he suffered a 4-0 whitewash defeat, with O'Sullivan putting problems with his cue to one side in a dominant performance to reach the quarter-finals. Ad On the other hand, Mertens – who had beaten Jackson Page and David Gilbert to make it this far — made several mistakes and allowed his nerves to get the better of him, as O’Sullivan wrapped up the match in less than an hour.