Ronnie O'Sullivan kept his European Open title defence on track with a 5-1 victory over Scotland's Chris Small in Malta today.
O'Sullivan faced a tough test by the Scot at the Hilton Conference Centre venue in Portomaso. "Chris made me work hard but I was just enjoying the struggle," said O'Sullivan.
"This week I've passed a big examination. I've surprised myself and I'm delighted with the way things are working out."
O'Sullivan fell behind in each of the first three frames but breaks of 58, 81 and 46 helped give him a 3-0 lead. Runs of 32 and 49 made it 4-0 and although he fell 50 points behind in the fifth with only the last four colours remaining, he played on for snookers.
"I just wanted to hit some balls even though I had no chance of winning the frame," he said. "I wanted to keep playing because I was enjoying it so much."
O'Sullivan eventually clinched a place in the quarter-finals with a break of 112 in the sixth. Following Mark Williams' shock 5-1 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the first round on Monday, the race to become world number one for next season has been thrown wide open. But O'Sullivan is not thinking about a return to the top of the snooker tree.
"It's only numbers and we can sit here and talk about them all day," he said. "As long as I'm the champion of my own life then I'm happy. Snooker is only a small slice of the whole cake."