20 February 2023 , 22:37
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Ronnie O’Sullivan questioned whether Sean Murphy has a killer instinct following his Welsh Open final defeat.
Robert Milkins edged the 40-year-old 9-7 and won the second tour title of his career. After the 2005 world champion levelled the match at 5-5, Milkins won four of the next six frames to clinch the Ray Reardon Trophy and a prize of £80,000, plus the £150,000 BetVictor Series bonus.
The wait for another title continues for Murphy, who is without a ranking title win since the 2020 Welsh Open and has lost eight of his last ten finals. This prompted O’Sullivan to question his ability to close out big matches and claimed Murphy's record of nine ranking title wins is "not a great return for the type of game he plays".
"He doesn't win enough tournaments for me, with his game," O'Sullivan said. "I don't know what it is, whether it's a lack of killer instinct or something. Sometimes you've got to be a bit nasty on the table and he doesn't look like he's had it.
"He's won the big tournaments, the Masters, the Worlds, nine ranking events, but that’s not a great return for the type of game he plays." Reflecting on his defeat to Milkins, Murphy said: "I made far too many unforced errors.
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"I couldn't have tried any harder. All credit to Rob, he was by far the better player. He fully deserved the victory." Milkings was delighted after his latest triumph, his first since claiming last year's Gibraltar Open.
"I can't even speak," he said after his victory. "It's unreal, really. All through the day, I was sort of struggling a bit. Same as Shaun. We were both struggling and obviously, I have a lot of reasons to struggle – it's a lot of money for me, that is!
Ronnie O'Sullivan criticised whether the 40-year-old has a killer instinct after another finals loss (Colin Poultney/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)"I just tried not to think about it. To be fair, I played alright in the evening but to start off with today, it was really hard work, and if Shaun would have been pretty much at 20% of his game, I'm sure he would have taken a lead going into tonight. Obviously Gibraltar was brilliant, but beating somebody like Shaun in a best-of-17 in a final, even if he didn’t play well, is just the icing on the cake.”
Not only was the prestigious title on the line for the veteran, but a £150,000 bonus for topping the BetVictor Series rankings. Furthermore, he received all the added benefits that come with qualifying for the Players Championship, Tour Championship, Champion of Champions and returning to the world’s top 16.
After winning the top prize in Gibraltar, the Milkman told Metro.co.uk: "It’s total relief, I’ve been skint! Trying to support three kids, trying to pay the mortgage, money just don’t last. I’ve got myself into debt but it’s such a relief that the money from that has cleared me all off. I couldn’t see no way out at one stage, from everything, it’s been so difficult, one thing after another."