Ronnie O’Sullivan’s route to the World Snooker Championship final as he looks to surpass Stephen Hendry

Ronnie O’Sullivan is already widely regarded as the greatest player to pick up a snooker cue and he always goes into the World Championship with arguably more attention than the rest of the field put together. Crucible crown number eight is the target for O’Sullivan this year as he looks to successfully defend his world title for just the second time in his career. Ad The only other occasion was 2013, a season which The Rocket spent most of it away from the tour after his fourth triumph, before putting on an incredible performance on his way to beating Barry Hawkins in the final.

World ChampionshipWhite tips 'GOAT' O’Sullivan and Selby to reach Crucible final17 HOURS AGO You never know what to expect from O’Sullivan, which is what makes him so watchable. This season alone, he knocked in the second fastest televised century from nowhere at the Scottish Open and had tip problems throughout a rollercoaster Welsh Open. He hasn’t gone beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament this season, but did win the Hong Kong Masters and Champion of Champions.

Form doesn’t matter in snooker though, especially at the Crucible and it really is all about how you perform on the day, or days, versus your opponent. It would be so easy to get carried away by predicting who O’Sullivan could face on his way to the final, so we are doing exactly that. Don’t read on if you believe in jinxing.

Round 1: O’Sullivan v Pang We can’t get this prediction wrong, because it has been made for us already. Pang Junxu will make his World Championship debut and the interesting aspect for O’Sullivan will be whether there are any signs of his arm injury. O’Sullivan pulled out of the WST Classic in March due to, what appeared to be, a repeat of his tennis