At the International Championship, Zhang Anda is making an effort to ignore the Ronnie O’Sullivan challenge.This season, Zhang Anda hopes to defeat Ronnie O’Sullivan twice (Picture: Getty Images)
Though Mighty Mouse knows he can defeat the Rocket because he did it last month, Zhang Anda is attempting not to think too much about the challenge of defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the International Championship.
The 31-year-old had an incredible run to the Tianjin semifinals, defeating players like Ding Junhui and Mark Williams along the way. However, he faces the world number one in the semifinals, so things do not get any easier.
Fortunately for the Chinese, he has reason to be confident after defeating O’Sullivan just a few weeks ago during his journey to the Essex final at the English Open.
That was Zhang’s first ranking event final, losing out to Judd Trump in Brentwood, and has been part of an excellent season so far.
He says that has been a huge turning point for him, releasing himself of nerves, but he knows that a huge challenge awaits him on Saturday.
‘The most important thing for me is the English Open. It’s more enjoyable for me to play snooker after that, more enjoyment than nervous,’ Zhang told WST.
‘In my mind, he [O’Sullivan] is not only the world number one but the best player in snooker the most legendary player, in many people’s minds too.
‘Don’t think about it too much. It’s just a game. Try to enjoy playing against him.’
Zhang is playing just his second ranking semi-final while O’Sullivan is in his 89th and the 47-year-old says things are trickier these days as he competes with players striving to get to the top, where he has been operating for 30 years.
- ‘Each match I win nowadays is one of the best wins of my life, because I’m old. I’ve been around a long time,’ said O’Sullivan after beating Ali Carter in the quarter-finals.
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