LONDON: Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan eased into the final with a 17-7 win over Barry Hawkins on Friday.
Such was the scale of victory achieved by O’Sullivan, aiming for a third successive world title and sixth in all, he gave himself a day off at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England.
O’Sullivan, in a repeat of last year’s final, led 5-2 overnight and the ‘Rocket’ stretched his advantage over his fellow Englishman to 11-5 by the close of Friday’s opening session.
And when the semi-final match resumed later Friday, he made breaks of 76, 55, 103 and 84 to reach his sixth world final.
In the second semi-final, Australia’s Neil Robertson came from two frames down overnight to draw level at 12-12 with Mark Selby ahead of the final session later yesterday.
Both players now need to win five more frames if they are to face O’Sullivan.
World number one Robertson, the 2010 world champion, found himself 10-7 behind when Selby made a break of 104 in yesterday’s first frame.
But the left-hander responded with a contribution of 85 and then Robertson narrowed the gap by coming out on top in the two protracted frames that followed.
The 19th frame took nearly an hour and the 20th lasted 45 minutes, with the normally free-flowing ‘Thunder from Down Under’ showing there was more to his game than quick-fire breaks.
Melbourne-born Robertson had come from 5-1 down to beat Selby in the final of the UK Championship — snooker’s second-most prestigious tournament — in December.
But the Englishman put any negative thoughts that may have been developing to one side by winning the first two frames after the mid-session interval, including a break of 73, as the 2007 world championship runner-up restored his two-frame advantage.
However, Robertson hit back with a break of 64 before capitalising on Selby’s mistakes in the next to leave things all square heading into the concluding session.
AFP
