Let’s hope Ronnie O’Sullivan did not offend anyone at the Emirates this week, where he has been known to enjoy the odd day out in one of their excellent hospitality areas. The Rocket compared his titanic quarter-final clash in Newport with John Higgins, two players with nine world titles, 41 other ranking titles and seven Masters crowns between them,  as like “Manchester City against Chelsea”, the two financial powerhouses of English Premier League football currently. At the time of his comments O’Sullivan’s own team, Arsenal, stood in second place, just a point adrift of Chelsea and ahead of City. Unlike O’Sullivan though, the Gunners could really do with a trophy or two in the cabinet.

Joel Walker took the opportunity to share a cautionary travel tale with fellow teenager Scott Donaldson at the BetVictor Welsh Open. The two youngsters did themselves proud in Newport, with Donaldson matching his best ever run at a full ranking event and Walker, also 19, stunning defending champion Stephen Maguire to reach at least the quarter-finals, further than he had ever been before in a fledgling two-year professional career. But the Sheffield youngster had a warning for Donaldson, heading for Haikou in just a few days. At the Wuxi Classic this season Walker, not used to the jetlag such trips to China can bring on, fell into a deep sleep and missed the traditional welcome ceremonies, a PR obligation under the players’ contract. This saw world No84 Walker harshly fined, but formed part of a learning curve that he was keen to share with the Perth potter.

WORLD champion Ronnie O’Sullivan picked Joel Walker out as a 16-year-old to win a ‘Pot Idol’ style talent competition put on by Rileys almost four years ago and held in the Winter Gardens in Sheffield during the World Championships.

After ending up being the Rocket’s top choice in that ‘Future Stars’ selection process Walker, now 19 and ranked 84th in the world, turned professional two years ago,

O’Sullivan was watching in the media centre as Walker beat defending champion Stephen Maguire to reach his first ranking-event quarter-final.

He said: “I picked him in the Future Stars, he was the best of the juniors coming through and I have followed his career very closely. He did well in a PTC in Antwerp and I was actually surprised, he has improved so much in such a short space of time. He is starting to get results against good players and I am so happy for him. I think he will win tournaments now, he obviously has that love and desire for the game, he wants to play and is improving rapidly. I picked a good ‘un there, maybe I should be a scout more often.”

It was like that moment when someone hurriedly takes the black-ish suitcase off the airport baggage belt and leaves for home, without checking the name. John Higgins and close friend Stephen Maguire finished their last-32 matches at almost exactly the same time on Wednesday night, the older man having beaten Mark King 4-0 with the defending champion seeing off Andrew Pagett by the same scoreline. The pair rattled through their press duties, both looking to take advantage of a relatively early 8.30pm finish and enjoy something of the evening. But in his haste Higgins, picking up what is an admittedly similar case to his own, rushed out of the Newport Centre building with Maguire’s cue. Rolling his eyes Maguire left with Higgins’ own playing equipment, hoping to track his pal down as soon as possible for an exchange before their last-16 matches on Thursday.

The late re-scheduling of the PTC Grand Finals may have been warmly greeted for the return of top-level snooker to Preston’s famous Guildhall, steeped in history, but the switch did present certain difficulties for those having planned trips to the Far East assuming they would be in Thailand after the Haikou World Open and prior to the China Open in Beijing. Ricky Walden and his girlfriend had originally intended to spend a week in Hong Kong with friends along with manager Lee Gorton, plans that had to be hastily re-arranged by the player once the Lancashire date was announced for the tournament, leaving his pal to make the trip alone. And Jamie Jones was among those players having booked flights to Bangkok and left scrabbling trying to recoup the outlay.

Referee Jan Verhaas has been busy planning his wedding, with the registry office ceremony due to take place in fiancée Alena Skarabahataya’s home country of Belarus in the summer. The couple plan to live in Holland after tying the knot, and Alena has been busy swotting up on Dutch history and culture as well as learning the language for the exam foreign nationals have to take before taking up residence in the country. The happy couple will get hitched in Minsk, in front of a small number of family and friends, including Verhaas’s parents who will travel from the Netherlands. Many congratulations go to both Jan and Alena, and we at Inside Snooker hope you enjoy your big day.

Taking on world No2 Mark Selby is difficult enough at the best of times, but Dominic Dale could at least plead illness and preparation that was far from ideal after slumping to a 4-0 defeat at the last-32 stage of the BetVictor Welsh Open. Unluckily snookering himself and then going in-off on the blue in the decisive frame only made the Shootout champion feel worse. Dale said: “All day in the studio on Tuesday I was shivering and feverish, and really felt very ill. At least it wasn’t as bad today out there and I only had a bit of a headache. Bad as I felt, you can’t win a match with the run of the ball I got out there. I haven’t had a match like that for years.”