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Ronnie O'Sullivan celebrated victory over Barry Hawkins in the Coral Players Championship in Preston by attempting to talk in a bizarre Australian accent in his post-match interviews.
World number three O'Sullivan withstood Hawkins' fightback to seal a 6-4 first-round win at the Guild Hall and set up a last-eight clash against either Mark Selby or John Higgins.
"I dip in with a bit of Cockney, a bit of Australian and a bit of Scouse, you know what I mean mate? It's all good. I should have been an impersonator," O'Sullivan told BBC Lancashire Sport.
"It's for me to know and you to find out, mate!" Well, this is surreal 😁
Why does @ronnieo147 go 'all Aussie' after reaching the second round of @WorldSnooker's Players Championship @PrestGuildHall pic.twitter.com/25mPNNfOTR
— BBC Lancashire Sport (@BBCLancsSport) March 4, 2019
When asked if there was any particular reason why he was trying to talk like an Australian, the five-time world champion from Essex said: "No mate, I just feel totally positive.
"When you talk Aussie, the Aussies are just winners mate, you know? You've got to love a winner.
"Us English, we love a loser, so I thought I'm fed up of being a loser, I'm going to talk like a winner, like the Aussies. Get the Ashes won mate."
Defending champion O'Sullivan began with an opening-frame break of 106 against Hawkins and led 3-0 and 5-2 before his opponent made a fight of it.
The world number 10 clinched his first frame with a break of 104 in the fourth and a superb 110 in the ninth reduced the deficit to 5-4, but O'Sullivan closed it out by scoring 64 in the next.
Mark Allen, who won the 2016 title, will play David Gilbert or Stuart Bingham in the last eight on Thursday evening after overcoming Stephen Maguire 5-2.
