Vafaei has repeatedly criticised The Rocket since making his Crucible debut last year, accusing the eight-time world champion of ‘disrespecting’ the sport and saying he should retire.
The second-round grudge match turned out to be one of the most one-sided matches in World Snooker Championship history, with O’Sullivan cruising to a 13-2 win – his biggest ever at the Crucible.
Despite some bad blood between the players, O’Sullivan embraced Vafaei after a century break sealed the emphatic victory and the pair walked out arm in arm.
Assessing his performance, defending champion O’Sullivan said: ‘I got going a bit towards the end, which was nice, so I was pleased with how I played.
‘It’s the World Championships, you know, these are the tournaments that you put everything into.
‘Some tournaments you just use as a bit of shooting practice, but there’s a few you get excited for, so you want to be as ready as you can for them. I’m giving my best this tournament.’
Asked about Vafaei’s comments, O’Sullivan added: ‘It’s not a personal thing, sometimes when people doubt me I take it as a motivation. I need to prove that I’m still good, that I can still play this game.
‘It’s not a personal thing, it just helps me. So when Hossein said that, it was like it helped me, but never personal. You don’t get personal with this game, it’s the game we try and master.
‘Anyone who beats Ding has to play well, he’s a world class player. He’s young, I know he doesn’t look that young, but he’s got time on his side. He can win this tournament, no doubt about that.’
Vafaei beat Ding Junhui in the first round but his form deserted him against eight-time champion O’Sullivan, who defeated China’s Pang Junxu 10-7 in the previous round.
The Iranian said: ‘It’s been a great journey. It doesn’t matter win or lose, I just lost to the greatest ever.
‘He played fantastic. No one plays snooker better than him. When he’s on the table, easy snooker. How to compete with this guy on the table?
‘I got my lesson, 100 per cent. But I know how to give lessons to the other players. I’m going to be dangerous. I learned a few things in the game from him, it’s going to help me in the future.’
Asked whether he fired O’Sullivan up with his pre-match comments, Vafaei added: ‘Yeah, and why not? We are 128 players and this sport, if you stay quiet it’s not going to improve.
‘This sport needs characters, it needs someone to say something, otherwise it’s going to be very boring.
‘People come and don’t have any story to tell. At least people enjoyed it. I don’t care, win or lose, I lost to the greatest ever.’
O’Sullivan, 47, faces Belgium’s Luca Brecel in the quarter-finals as he bids to win a record-breaking ninth world title.
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