Ronnie O’Sullivan has won more ranking titles than any other player in the history of the sport. Thirty-seven to be precise. It is a remarkable number that will prove hard for anyone to surpass, even a hungry and dominant Judd Trump.

Yet O’Sullivan would be justified in thinking he should be much closer to 40 by now, having reached four major finals already this season and lost them all. If we’re throwing the word remarkable around, that statistic is about as remarkable as it gets.

It’s not that O’Sullivan is invincible – as he was when winning this event and three more significant titles in the 2018/2019 season – but he is still one of the elite players in the game, producing snooker good enough to claim his sixth world title as recently as August and form strong enough to consistently carry him to business end of tournaments.