DEFENDING CHAMPION RONNIE O’Sullivan eased into this year’s World Championship 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.
O’Sullivan, in a repeat of last year’s final, led 5-2 overnight and stretched his advantage over his fellow Englishman to 11-5 by the close of Friday’s opening session.
When the semi-final match resumed, he made breaks of 76, 55, 103 and 84 to reach his sixth world final.
In the second semi-final, Mark Selby, who was 5-3 up overnight against Australia’s Neil Robertson, the world number one and 2010 world champion, remained two frames in front at 9-7.
The Englishman had a chance to go 10-6 in front in the final frame of Friday’s play but a mistake on the black allowed Robertson, who came from 5-1 down to beat Selby in the UK Championship final in December, back in and his clearance to the pink ensured the match remained finely balanced.
Their match resumes at 10am on Saturday and will be played to a finish later in the day.
