Ronnie O’Sullivan rows with referee as Judd Trump makes up ground in final

Ronnie O’Sullivan opened up a 5-3 lead against Judd Trump following an enthralling opening session of the World Snooker Championship final, which culminated in O’Sullivan becoming embroiled in an angry exchange with the Belgian referee, Olivier Marteel, in the final frame of the afternoon in Sheffield.

O’Sullivan had won five of the first six frames to take a commanding lead over Trump, before the 32-year-old won the final two frames of the afternoon to narrow the deficit before the evening session on Sunday. However, in that final frame, O’Sullivan and Marteel confronted each other after Marteel appeared to reprimand O’Sullivan as he returned to his seat after failing to escape a snooker on the yellow.

The six-time world champion, who is bidding to equal Stephen Hendry’s modern era record of seven Crucible titles, insisted Marteel was in the wrong about the accusations and he had ‘“seen nothing”, before sternly pointing his finger at the Belgian as he returned to the table to officiate. Trump, much like the rest of the Crucible, was a bemused spectator, before he questioned why Marteel had not waited until after the session had concluded to speak with O’Sullivan.

However, the 32-year-old held his nerve and cleared the remaining colours to reduce O’Sullivan’s lead to two frames heading into the evening session, though O’Sullivan did not offer the customary handshake to Marteel at the end of the session.

The World Snooker Tour confirmed the incident in a statement which read: “Ronnie O’Sullivan received a formal warning from the referee following a gesture he made in the eighth frame.”

O’Sullivan, who ended the session with a 5-3 lead, denied any offence in an interview with Eurosport, saying: “I just think he [Marteel]