Ronnie O'Sullivan hits two 147 breaks, but how do you beat snooker's greatest player? Dominic Dale reveals key secret

Ronnie O'Sullivan was thrilling snooker fans over the weekend by compiling two maximum 147 breaks during sell-out exhibition bouts in Mansfield and Walsall. While young UK champion Zhao Xintong was capturing the German Masters with a staggering 9-0 whitewash of Yan Bingtao in Berlin, O'Sullivan was preparing for next week's £385,000 Players Championship by running in two 147 breaks and narrowly missing out on a rare 155.

Ad/> /> German Masters'A special player' — Williams says only O'Sullivan is more watchable than ZhaoYESTERDAY AT 20:37 Players Championship 2022 — How to watch the latest ranking event, draw, schedule O'Sullivan and Trump to meet in blockbuster clash at Players Championship The six-times world champion faces Judd Trump in the first round of the Players, the season's tenth ranking event, next Wednesday (9 February) in Wolverhampton and looks to be in fine fettle judging by his ball striking before a bewitched audience. O'Sullivan returned to competitive action at the Championship League on Tuesday and Wednesday with matches against Kyren Wilson, John Higgins, Ricky Walden, Ali Carter, Martin Gould and Ding Junhui in Group 7 of the invitational event in Leicester.

/> Double ranking event winner and Eurosport pundit Dominic Dale turned professional alongside the World Grand Prix winner in 1992. The Welsh world number 58 has won only one match in 13 meetings with the record 38-times ranking event winner, but believes the key to beating him is being true to the old adage of playing the balls rather than the man.

After nine straight defeats, Dale finally ended a 27-year wait for victory against the world number two with a 5-3 success in the first round of the 2019 World Open in Yushan. «I remember going to