Ronnie O'Sullivan is through to the final of the China Open after easily overcoming Stephen Hendry 6-3 at the Mission Hills Resort in Shenzhen. This will be O'Sullivan's third final of the season so far and he looked in blistering form, setting up a 5-0 lead against Hendry before the Scot began to fight back. However, his efforts were too little too late, thus ending the seven-times world champion's exceptional record of having won at least one world ranking tournament each year since the Rothmans Grand Prix in 1987.
Despite his easy victory and the opportunity of picking up £311,000 if he beats Mark Williams in tomorrow's best-of-17-frames final, O'Sullivan was indifferent about the result. Earlier this week, O'Sullivan said he was no longer enjoying the game of snooker and he reiterated those feelings today. "I'm just going through the motions because I've got nothing better to do. It's a shame because it isn't the game, its me. Mind you, its good to get through - especially when you beat Stephen. That's an achievement in itself."
The match was peppered with mistakes by both players, although Hendry never really looked capable of stealing this match after the opening few frames. The opening frame set the tone, as leading 55-0, Hendry took on a risky plant and O'Sullivan put together a 67 clearance to snatch it on the pink. He followed up with a quickfire 72 break, added a scrappy third and raced 4-0 ahead with a run of 87 to enter the mid-session interval 4-0 to the good.
O'Sullivan then made it 5-0 after they returned but then began to get sloppy, allowing Hendry to get back in the game. A 79 break gave Hendry the sixth frame, he stole the seventh on the pink with a 38 clearance and gave himself a glimmer of hope by also adding the eighth. However, O'Sullivan finally found his focus once more and took the final frame he needed to ensure victory.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
