Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion unsure if current form will be good enough to triumph at Crucible

After falling 6-3 behind to Carter in the Masters final, O’Sullivan won seven of the next eight frames to wrap up victory at a raucous Alexandra Palace.

Only three players – Steve Davis, Hendry and Mark Williams – have ever won the UK, Masters and World Championship titles in the same season, with Williams the most recent to do so in 2002-03.

Hendry and another former world champion, John Parrott, believe O’Sullivan has an excellent chance to emulate that feat.

Parrott told BBC Two: “He’s going there [to the World Championship] as the favourite, that’s for certain. It’s a bigger test there, it’s a lot longer and more draining mentally. But if you’ve won it seven times, you can win it again.”

Hendry added: “It’s two finals in a row of Triple Crown events where Ronnie has just pulled away at 7-7.

“He is going to take some stopping at the World Championship. I am looking for challengers who could possibly stop him taking the Triple Crown [this season] and there are not many.”

Meanwhile, 40-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan says he intends to compete in the World Grand Prix which begins in Leicester on Monday before taking a two-month break from tournaments to recharge for the end of the season.

“I’ll probably just play next week because it’s 32 players, I’ve earned my way to get in that tournament,” he added. “But I’ll just swerve all the other tournaments now. I feel like I want a break.”