Snooker World Championship: Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump angry at referee Olivier Marteel in the final

O’Sullivan had just missed a yellow attempt at a safety with the cue ball and hit black instead, earning him a seven-point penalty, when Marteel suddenly stopped the match.

Ironically, in the decisive phase of the last frame of the first session at a score of 59:50 from Judd Trump’s point of view, who now had the chance to close the frame and shorten it to 3:5.

O’Sullivan was formally cautioned by Marteel for an allegedly inappropriate gesture. O’Sullivan denied this and wanted to know the reason for the warning from the referee.

“What did you see?” he asked, visibly irritated by the game master’s action. “I saw it,” he replied tight-lipped and didn’t want to go into detail in front of the TV cameras.

Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump discuss with Marteel

That in turn brought “The Rocket” up the wall: “Tell me what you saw. You didn’t see anything. Look at the camera images. You didn’t see anything,” the snooker legend snapped at the referee, who moved away from O’Sullivan with the words “I won’t” and marched straight towards Trump.

“I had to say something,” Marteel explained to O’Sullivan’s opponent, who also had little sympathy for the referee. “You could have said it after the frame,” replied the 2019 World Champion, before he nervously punched yellow and subsequently won the frame.

O’Sullivan received an official warning from Marteel.

O’Sullivan makes allegations against referees

After the first session it was 5:3 to O’Sullivan, who left the interior of the Crucible without shaking Marteel’s hand. At the request of Eurosport O’Sullivan said, “I think he’s just looking for trouble.”

And further: “The referee should talk to you, but I won’t get involved. I think he’s just trying to create something. That’s his thing, not mine.”