The inaugural 2024 Riyadh Carnival Season came to a close with O’Sullivan once again contributing two breaks of 124 and 121 to win three consecutive matches and a 5-2 victory over Breacher to claim the title and £250,000 grand prize!
In the first semi-final, Breacher took the lead with a 125 and three 50+ to beat Mark Allen, who hit two breaks of 121 and 133, 4-2.
The second semi-final then began and it was a summit clash and a battle for supremacy, with O’Sully hitting a 123 break and winning three consecutive games to comfortably beat Trump 4-1 and reach the final for the fifth time in the season.
The first half of the final, O’Sullivan opened 95 points first game, then Breacher hit 81 points to win two consecutive games, 2-1 reverse lead, the fourth game, O’Sullivan hit 94 points to win a shot, the two 2-2 tie.
In the second half, after the break, O’Sullivan was unstoppable, hitting a single 124 points, 121 points two shots to break the century, won three consecutive games, 5-2 victory over Breacher, won the championship and £ 250,000 grand prize!
This is O’Sullivan’s fifth title this season, and with the £250,000 jackpot in his pocket, he leads with a total of £1,441,500, surpassing the £1,093,980 single-season record set by Trump!
At the same time, officials also announced two major decisions: one is that next year’s 167 Golden Balls prize money will be increased to $1 million, and the other is that an academy named after O’Sullivan will be established!
On the acceptance speech, O’Sullivan said, “You can’t take away all the awards at once, it makes more sense to take the championship this year and the Golden Ball Award next year!”
