At the first major of the season, the UK championship, a struggling O'Sullivan survived a close final frame encounter with Sunny Akani in the last 16 at the UK Championship, before powering to the title, defeating Martin Gould 6–3, Stephen Maguire 6–4 and then Shaun Murphy 10–5 to win the championship for a record-equalling sixth time. In January 2018, in the first round at The Masters, O'Sullivan recorded a 6–0 whitewash over Marco Fu, compiling three century breaks and scoring 649 points to Fu's 35. However, he was knocked out in the following round by eventual winner Mark Allen, 1–6.