Ronnie O'Sullivan equals Steve Davis with sensational victory over Shaun Murphy
:focal(140x151:142x149)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/04/28/2811917-58003384-310-310.png)
Updated 10/12/2017 at 22:13 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan drew level with Steve Davis with six UK Championship titles following a sensational 10-5 victory over Shaun Murphy.
Britain's Ronnie O'Sullivan plays a shot during the final of the Hong Kong Masters snooker tournament on July 23, 2017.
Image credit: Getty Images
Going into the final session the two players were level at 4-4 and Murphy got the evening session off to a brilliant start with a fantastic long red but when O’Sullivan got at the table he didn’t let up, taking the opening frame.
Another rocket of a pot saw Murphy get on the board first in the tenth frame before O’Sullivan took over. However he missed a red when trying to screw back to get on a colour and Murphy saw out the frame.
The momentum swung back towards O’Sullivan when Murphy rattled the jaws of a pocket with the cue ball as he tried to escape a safety. O’Sullivan duly obliged, racking up a quick century.
He then got another 70+ break in to lead 7-5 before the break as his earlier decision to open up the reds with a safety proved to be a good one.
After the final mini-interval O’Sullivan looked to have let Murphy in when he missed a simple red only to see his opponent miss an even easier red. O’Sullivan was in no mood to let up and he knocked in his third century.
Murphy started to get the crowd excited about the possibility of a 147 in the 14th as he started with seven reds and blacks.
However he missed a black on the rest and O’Sullivan finished it up to move one away from victory.
The Rocket didn't get a huge break in the final frame but he was at his fluent best as he totally blew Murphy away. #
MATCH STATS
- The match lasted for 3hr 33mins. The average frame duration was 14m 13s
- Murphy's highest break was 123, O'Sullivan's was 104. This was lower than their highest breaks of the tournament (Murphy 135, O'Sullivan 132)
- O'Sullivan knocked in three centuries, taking his tournament tally to 10, Murphy's solitary century took him to five.
- O'Sullivan's big breaks; 62 F2, 103 F3, 62 F4, 52 F8, 75 F9, 104 F11, 76 F12, 103 F13, 86 F14, 59 F15
FIRST SESSION REPORT
Shaun Murphy fought back from 4-2 down to level at 4-4 against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first session of the UK Championship final.
Murphy took the opening frame in style with a fluent century as he capitalised on a lucky fluke with his first red.
O’Sullivan quickly levelled up and then went ahead with his opening century of the game.
‘The Rocket’ looked as if he would go into the mini-interval with a 3-1 lead but he inadvertently hit the black and Murphy got in to steal.
After the short break, O’Sullivan edged ahead by two thanks to two tight frames.
However, just as it looked as if he would pull out of sight, Murphy fought back superbly to first make it 4-3 and then level the match.
O’Sullivan missed a simple black in the eighth frame and it was the first sign of his frustration as he punched the edge of the table.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement