Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan remains on course for back-to-back Regal Masters titles after beating Hong Kong's Marco Fu 6-3 in today's first semi-final tie. The world champion, attempting to win the event for the third time in four years, encountered little difficulty in today's match but afterwards revealed he had considered withdrawing from the event days before it got underway but his father, currently serving a life sentence for murder, encouraged him to change his mind.
"I was playing so badly three or four days before I was supposed to fly up here I decided not to bother to come," he explained. "I phoned my dad, we had a talk about it and he told me I should play. He said have a couple of days' holiday and see how it goes. To be honest I had an argument with him, we didn't speak for a day or so, but I eventually rang back to apologise and now I'm glad I took his advice," he added.
O'Sullivan did not make such a good start to today's game as he failed to score a single point in the opening frame. But he responded quickly with breaks of 46, 58, 65, 71 and 134 - putting him in the lead for the highest break of the competition worth £5,000 - before a final match-clinching 77 break.
"I didn't feel brilliant out there by any means and I let a few mistakes dwell on my mind," he said afterwards. " You know, I felt quite nervous. Even when I was 5-2 up I thought I was going to lose. That was horrible. I don't think I've played as solidly this time as I did when I won the title here last year. Maybe that's because I'm a little bit match-rusty," he said.
O'Sullivan will now face John Higgins in tomorrow's best of 17-frames final after the Scot crushed Mark Williams 6-1 in tonight's other semi-final clash in Glasgow. Williams took the first frame with a 44 clearance but enjoyed no further success as Higgins cruised to victory.
Higgins is hoping he can end his duck in his native land where he has failed to lift a trophy despite winning 21 tournaments around the rest of the world during his career so far but knows that he will need to be at his best to avoid finishing runner-up in the Regal Masters for the third time in four years.
"I'm still very much the local boy up here so there'll be a lot of pressure on me to get this monkey off my back. I'll definitely have to raise my game a few notches. Ronnie was the best player in the world last season and he's always very difficult to beat," he said.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
