Ronnie beat Zhou Yuelong by 4-3 this afternoon to book his place in the quarter-finals at the 2024 World Grand Prix. He will lay Gary Wilson tomorrow over best of 9 frames.

Here are the scores and the stats:

as well as the report by WST

Ronnie O’Sullivan, who hasn’t lost since November, kept his tremendous winning run going with a thrilling 4-3 success against Zhou Yuelong to reach the quarter-finals of the Spreadex World Grand Prix.

O’Sullivan’s last defeat came against Zhang Anda in the semi-finals of the International Championship more than two months ago – since then he has won 11 consecutive matches, a streak which has given him the UK Championship and Masters titles. Now in the hunt for a 41st ranking crown, he delighted the crowd in Leicester today in a superb match which included two centuries and seven more breaks over 50.

The Rocket is through to his 141st ranking event quarter-final and his next opponent, on Friday at 1pm, will be another player in form: Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson who saw off Tom Ford 4-2.

A marvellous 67 clearance gave O’Sullivan the opening frame today, then a 107 put him 2-0 ahead. China’s Zhou responded in kind as a 76 clearance gave him frame three, then a run of 102 made it 2-2. The fifth came down to the last red and Zhou failed to escape from a tricky snooker, handing his opponent the chance to go 3-2 ahead. Breaks of 65 and 56 got Zhou back to 3-3, but he missed a tricky red to a centre pocket early in the decider, and O’Sullivan was typically clinical in a match-winning 90.

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And the images shared by WST in the above piece

Actually there were a lot of mistakes in this match. Ronnie wasn’t the best player in this match, but he played a good decider. He was full of praise for Zhou but quite downbeat about his performance .

Here are the quotes in writing (source Yahoo)

O’Sullivan told ITV4: “I’ve got to really consider whether I can carry on feeling how I’m feeling out there – I just don’t get any enjoyment from the way I’m hitting the ball.

“I feel like it’s just hard work, I haven’t a clue where the balls are going, and a lot of it’s just guess-work.

“The worst thing is you’re winning bloody tournaments as well. If I was getting pumped every round playing like that it would be an easy decision to make.”

…

“It’s been happening like this for 25 or 30 years, so it’s nothing new,” O’Sullivan added.

“It’s the only thing I’ve known and it’s hard not to do this because it’s my job, it’s all I know, so I’ve struggled through it.

“But I can’t accept bad cueing, I’d rather cue well and lose than cue awful and win tournaments. I get no satisfaction out of it, I really don’t.”

Ronnie doesn’t appear to be in a good place at the moment and probably really needs a break. He looks tired and a bit depressed. This is very obvious in the interview he gave to Rob Walker. Thank you to Ben and Kalacs who shared the link in comments.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7XNhRc13Vpk%3Flist%3DRDCMUCBzDz6beXDfMtfxQdEutD_w

Interestingly, Hendry had given his opinion on the “bad blood” between Ronnie and Ali Carter and the outbursts in the media room afterwards and also mentioned how much snooker at the highest level can take out of the players mentally. (source Phil Haigh writing for metro.co.uk)

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Stephen Hendry has put Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter’s recent spat down to the pair being ‘mentally exhausted’ after their Masters campaigns, but predicts their next meeting will be ‘spicy’.

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Hendry gave his reaction to the headline-grabbing beef, noting that both men will have been mentally drained after a high profile week at one of the sport’s biggest events.

‘It is between the two of them and obviously there is bad blood there, there’s no doubt about it, and it’s gone back quite a long way. Obviously they’ve known each other a long time,’ Hendry said on the Snooker Club podcast.

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Hopefully Ronnie will be able to have a good night rest and feel better tomorrow.

Here are WST reports on what hapened at the World Grand Prix yesterday

Afternoon session

CHAMP ALLEN FIRES THREE CENTURIES

Mark Allen made a tremendous start to the defence of his Spreadex World Grand Prix title as he made three centuries in a 4-2 victory over Jack Lisowski.

Allen beat Judd Trump 10-9 in the final of this event a year ago, and comes into 2024 full of confidence having won the Champion of Champions and the Shoot Out late in 2023. He looked very sharp from the start today as breaks 103 and 110 put him 2-0 ahead. Lisowski recovered to 2-2 with 93 and 75, but a high quality contest went the way of Allen thanks to further runs of 108 and 78.

“Jack is one of the most talented players on the tour so it was a tough draw,” said the Northern Irishman. “It was a very good standard today. But at 2-2 it was in the balance, in these short races the margins are very fine. I have generally done well in the past when I have been defending titles so hopefully I can go far this week.”

Allen’s opponent in the last 16 is Zhang Anda, who won his first ranking title in November at the International Championship. Zhang saw off Dominic Dale 4-2 with top breaks of 75, 81 and 74. World number three Allen added: “Zhang has been the surprise package of this season, no one saw that coming. He has been on the tour for a long time but now suddenly looks like a world beater.“

Ding Junhui edged out Ricky Walden 4-3 thanks to a break of 72 in the decider, while Noppon Saengkham beat Xiao Guodong 4-1 with a top run of 81.

Evening session

SELBY TO FACE TRUMP IN QUARTERS

Mark Selby stepped up his bid for a first title in ten months as he beat Ali Carter 4-3 in the second round of the Spreadex World Grand Prix to set up a quarter-final clash with Judd Trump.

Playing in front of his home fans at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, Selby hopes to draw inspiration from the fact that his last silverware – the WST Classic in March 2023 – came at the same venue. The four-time World Champion scraped over the line in his opening match against Yuan Sijun on Monday, but tonight’s performance was more convincing as he finished strongly to beat Masters runner-up Carter.

A break of 62 gave Selby the opening frame, then Carter came from 50-0 down to snatch the second with a 66 clearance. World number five Selby fell 2-1 behind before firing runs of 105 and 62 to lead 3-2. Carter levelled with a 103 and had first scoring chance in the decider, but made just 7 then missed a tricky red to a top corner, playing with the rest. Selby punished him with a break of 77 to reach his 94th ranking event quarter-final.

“It was a good match from start to finish,” said 40-year-old Selby. “I was relieved to see him miss the red in the decider and I managed to hold myself together and make a good break. Ali is on form at the moment and full of confidence so it’s a good win for me. I always want to do well, playing in my home city. It would mean a lot to win this title, having it in Leicester makes it extra special.”

Trump needed just 58 minutes to see off Lyu Hoatian 4-0 with top breaks of 55, 51 and 72. World number two Trump is the only player to win this event three times and hopes he is building towards the form he showed in October when he reeled off three consecutive titles. 

“I would like to have scored heavier. I am getting to 50 and not winning the frame, and sometimes you get punished for that,” he said. “I am trying to up my tempo, sometimes I feel I have bogged myself down a bit. If I can play at 17 or 18 seconds a shot, like I do in practice, that helps me play better. I feel better in myself this week. I have a good affinity with this tournament, which is always in the back of my mind and that helps with confidence. There are so many big events coming up. Everyone is super sharp and this is one of the better tournaments on the calendar.”

Asked if he was surprised to see a trio of big names – Neil Robertson, Luca Brecel and Kyren Wilson – miss out on this event, Trump replied: “The standard is picking up and you can’t afford to take your foot off the gas. If you miss events at the start of the season then it’s hard to catch up. It’s a fair event because everyone has the same chance to qualify. It’s good to see a few different names in the field and it keeps everyone sharp because you don’t want to miss out.“

China’s Cao Yupeng knocked out Barry Hawkins in the opening round, and took another scalp by white-washing Shaun Murphy 4-0. Cao, who was runner-up at the Shoot Out last month, scored breaks of 50, 70, 55 and 62 as he reached his seventh ranking event quarter-final. 

His next opponent will be Mark Williams, who scored a 4-1 win over Hossein Vafaei with top breaks of 108, 77 and 75. Vafaei walked out of the arena without shaking hands at the end of the match, but Williams insisted this was down to a misunderstanding.

He said: “I pulled Hossein up about it afterwards and he said it was because I slapped my leg at the end. But I only did that because I shouldn’t have gone for the pink in the last frame (when he led by 52 points with two reds left), I should have played safe. I thought he would have come back to the table and played for snookers so I was fuming with myself. Then he just stormed off.”

From what transpired in the press Hossein “misunderstood” Mark’s gesture. Mark acted in frustration and Hossein “read” it as a celebration and thought it was disrespectful. We already know how sensitive Hossein can be when it comes to “respect” and maybe cultural differences played a part here. Anyway… very much a storm in a cup of tea in my view.

Mark Allen is the defending champion and was interviewed. He expressed his views about how little power players actually have… as reported by David Caulfield on his always excellent blog:

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Mark Allen has doubts on whether or not the WPBSA Players board can wield enough power to influence significant change in snooker.

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But while questions remain over the lack of power that players possess, Allen thinks that the WPBSA Players board will provide only a limited effect.

“I don’t know how much I should say on this,” Mark Allen told Stephen Hendry on the latest episode of the Cue Tips Youtube channel.

“But I genuinely believe that, no matter who is on that board, things aren’t going to change. I just don’t think they have enough power on the Players board.”

“I know Matt (Selt) has got on, and I voted for him. I think he’s our only hope, even though there are other ones on it.

“I think he’s very opinionated, but he’s quite articulate. He speaks well, so I think if he can’t get any change done from the inside, I don’t think we’ve got any chance.

“But I think it might take something a bit more drastic than that.

“With regards to Macau and that, it would be great if we got to a scenario where the players can play in whatever they want.

“I had a good meeting with the WST board and that at the UK Champs, and they did open my eyes to some of their reasoning behind those decisions.

“I’m not saying I agree with them, but I do understand it. 

“What I try and say is, there were some players who were offered the chance to go to Macau and get maybe £100,000 for turning up. 

“And there’s a tournament in Belfast, which is obviously my favourite tournament of the year, and there’s £80,000 to the winner.

“So, like, you do the math. Why would you go to Belfast if you’re getting offered (that)? So World Snooker have to, in my opinion, make these events more appealing.

“If there’s £150,000 for the winner in Belfast, people probably don’t even come and play in Macau.

“So I think there’s a bit of wiggle room that World Snooker can do better as well.”

Shaun Murphy also expresses his views and David reports on that too.

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“I think what’s happened in recent months with the Macau Five and those rival tour situations, there’s quite a lot going on behind the scenes,” Murphy said on the OneFourSeven Snooker Podcast.

“Some of which I can talk about, and some of which I can’t, with promoters pretending to be players’ representatives out in China.”

“There’s a lot of lies being told. There’s a lot of underhanded tactics being used by a lot of people.

“I think the players have woken up to their own commercial power, and they’ve realised that they can have a say in this game.

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“I think the players have gone, ‘do you know what? I think we can have a good robust debate, a professional debate around these topics. I’m going to get involved, cast my vote, and see what happens.’ – it’s great, great news.

“(But) you very quickly have to understand who is responsible for what. The Players Board is as it sounds. It’s for the players, by the players.”

“We are not commercial agents. We are not necessarily that commercially minded, and we’re looking at it from the point of view of players trying to improve players’ issues.

“We want to improve things like, how long it takes players to get paid from Chinese events. Currently, it’s between eight to ten weeks, which we think is ridiculous.

“They are the types of issues that we’re going to be looking at.

“We’re currently into a massive debate over the future of the game in terms of bringing back a full tiered system across all events versus the flat 128 draws.

“It’s just not as straightforward as you might think. There’s lots of issues in and around that.

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“You run into that brick wall of course, where you realise that a player’s aspirations and a player’s dreams don’t always line up with the commercialisation of a sport.

“WST are a profit-making business. They’re not there to service the whims and wishes of the players. They are there to make money through the promotion of snooker.

“So those things don’t always align. I guess our job as board members is to keep the players as happy as possible.”

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The “underline” has been added by me. What Mark Allen says is very much in line with what I wrote some weeks ago. Players are self-employed, they will have no retirement money when they stop playing other than what they made by themselves, and they should mot have to face restrictions when it comes to what events they play in.

Shaun Murphy, unsurprisingly, is more “moderate”. There is one bit in his quotes that really caught my eye: the one about going back to a tiered system. I’m all for it and I have said it before. The flat draw is far too brutal and doesn’t help young players development. I’m not however in favour of having the early rounds played in cubicles weeks before the event and watched only by a man and his dog. It has to be right before the “main” event, televised or streamed, with spectators and at or close to the event proper venue. I know that some players – most notably Barry Pinches – are in favour of keeping the flat draw, claiming it’s fairer. It’s no fairer than having all kids in a school taking the exact same exams, no matter their age and actual level. Have to face matches of progressive difficulty is much fairer and helpful to development.

Here is WST report on day 2 at the 2024 World Grand Prix:

Life’s A Blur For Winning Williams

Mark Williams admits he is “guessing” shots and balls are “blurred” because of deteriorating eyesight, but he can look ahead to the last 16 of the Spreadex World Grand Prix thanks to a thrilling 4-3 win over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

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Welshman Williams turns 49 in two months and inevitably time is catching up with the three-time Crucible king, who is planning to give contact lenses a try. But he’s still ranked among the world’s top eight and has landed silverware already this season, at the British Open in September. And today’s exciting win over Un-Nooh, with seven frames played in just 81 minutes, sets up a second round tie with Hossein Vafaei. 

A break of 134 put Williams 2-1 ahead, then Thailand’s Un-Nooh levelled with a run of 53. In frame five, Un-Nooh was on track for a 147 until he went in-off when potting the black off the 13th red on 97. From 3-2 down, Williams conceded just one point in the last two frames, making vital breaks of 52 and 50.

“I can’t see much!” insisted veteran Williams. “When I am standing up it’s ok, then when I get down to the table most of the balls are blurred, especially the long ones. It’s a total guess. But I am guessing alright. I miss some of them by miles but I am also getting some of them. That’s the reason I haven’t looked further into what could be done. I will try contact lenses in a couple of weeks and see how that goes.   

“We both played well tonight, there weren’t many balls missed. He had a couple of half chances in the last frame and didn’t take them. My game is as good as it could be given my age at this stage of my career. I have won a tournament already this season and I’m more than happy with that.“

Having lifted the Masters trophy just two days ago, Ronnie O’Sullivan was back in action in front of a packed crowd and scored a 4-2 success against Pang Junxu. Breaks of 111, 70 and 95 helped O’Sullivan set up a match with Zhou Yuelong, who beat Stephen Maguire 4-1.

Shaun Murphy set a strong target for the £10,000 high break prize with a 145 total clearance in the opening frame of his match with John Higgins. Murphy went on to win 4-0 in just 41 minutes with further breaks of 77 and 70. 

“I have been playing well for a while now,” said Murphy, who would hold all three Players Series titles if he lands the trophy this week. “I was thinking about my game over Christmas and I felt I had gone a bit slow and lethargic, second guessing myself. My instinct to play shots with freedom is as good as anyone’s so I decided to play the first shot I see, play more flamboyant snooker and I am delighted with how that went today.

“In a way this event is more important than the Masters because there are ranking points, and that was the motivation for me to get up off the canvas after losing in the semi-finals last week. I have got three cracks left to make sure I am in the Players Championship, I want to be there to defend that title.” 

Ali Carter bounced back from the disappointment of losing the Masters final to O’Sullivan as he edged out Wu Yize 4-3. China’s Wu was just two pots from victory when he missed a tricky brown in the deciding frame, handing Carter the chance to pot brown, blue and pink for victory.

“Last week is in the past now and I have to focus on this week,” said Carter, who faces Mark Selby next. “I am proud of that win today because Wu played really well and he’ll be sick not to win the last frame – he had done all the hard work.“

Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson top scored with 78 in a 4-2 win over David Gilbert ,while Cao Yupeng trailed Barry Hawkins three times but eventually won 4-3.

Here are the scores of the Ronnie v Pang match … both went for it!

and the stats thanks to Kalacs

Some images, shared by WST and on Weibo

The end of the match shared by WST on YouTube:

Now some Ronnie updates …

Thanks to Mark for the videos in his last comment. Ronnie has confirmed that he will skip the 2024 German Masters and the 2024 Welsh Open, but he will try to qualify for Wuhan and will play in the ITV events. That’s good news.

Also, please check the comment by Aeltae. If you think that Ronnie was in the wrong about the venue, think again. This is the actual experience shared by a fan during the final. It’s not good, isn’t it? I have sent Aeltae’s comment “texto” to Matt Huart, who answered immediately and is forwarding it to the appropriate channels. I know that Matt is WPBSA, not WST, but I also know Matt personally, he’s a true fan of the game, we get along well and I 100% trust him to act on this… I don’t have the same trust in some others.

The 2024 World Grand Prix started yesterday featuring only the to 32 on the one year list.

Here is WST report on what happened yesterday evening

Mark Selby admits he was fortunate to survive a first round battle with Yuan Sijun at the Spreadex World Grand Prix, but the local favourite came through 4-3 to reach the last 16.

This event at the Morningside Arena in Leicester brings together the top 32 players from this season’s ranking list, in the first tournament of the 2024 Players Series….

Selby, looking for his first title since the WST Classic at the same venue ten months ago, built a 3-1 lead with top breaks of 85 and 68 but missed chances in the next two frames as China’s Yuan fought back to 3-3. The decider lasted 41 minutes and came down to the colours, Yuan eventually missing a difficult long green, handing Selby the opportunity to pot green, brown and blue for victory.

“I fell over the line,” said Selby, who now meets Wu Yize or Masters finalist Ali Carter. “I played ok to go 3-1 ahead but then blew a good chance to win 4-2. I didn’t deserve to win in the end, I was lucky. Yuan is a good player and when you don’t kill the match off, the game will come back and bite you. He was potting long balls and little nudges were going wrong for me, but that was my own fault for not finishing the match earlier.”

Judd Trump also had a tough opening draw but came from 2-0 down to beat Jamie Jones 4-2. Bristol’s Trump is looking for his fourth ranking title of the season, having won three in a row in October. 

World number 40 Jones made a strong start as a break of 103 gave him the opening frame, then the Welshman got the better of a scrappy second. But Jones scored just 11 points in the remainder of the match as Trump took four frames in a row with top runs of 80, 81, 45 and 77.

“Jamie started well although I didn’t do much wrong in the first two frames,” said world number two Trump. “I got into my rhythm from 2-0. I have a lot of experience in these best-of-seven matches and I know I don’t have to panic even at 2-0 down because once I get the momentum I can win three or four frames quickly.”

Last week, Trump suffered the disappointment of a 6-5 defeat against Carter in the quarter-finals of the Masters, when he was defending the title. “It wasn’t too hard to take because I had won a lot of close matches in the Masters and you can’t keep getting out of jail,” admitted the 34-year-old. “I gave it everything and I wasn’t quite good enough, you can’t be too hard on yourself. 

“I’m not one for setting targets and I have won three events already this season so any more would be a bonus. My only goal is to get my form back to where it was in October because I have gone off the boil a bit since then.”

Trump now meets China’s Lyu Haotian, who survived a Chris Wakelin fight-back to come through 4-3. Wuhan Open semi-finalist Lyu took a 3-0 lead with top breaks of 69 and 53, before Wakelin battled back to 3-3. A run of 68 gave Lyu the decider.   

Hossein Vafaei scored a 4-3 win over Matthew Selt with a top break of 134. 

The truth is that both players were struggling at the start of the Trump v Jones match, but Jamie eventually got the better of Judd in both occasions. In the third frame, Judd had the opportunity to find some fluency, got going and dominated from there.

I didn’t watch any of the later matches. I’m not a night owl and those matches eventually finished at past 2 am in my time zone. I can’t handle that. I’m unlikely to watch Ronnie’s match tonight for the same reason.

And finally … thanks to Kalacs who found this one ❤️

No Filter – Ronnie O’Sullivan v Ali Carter (2024 Masters) from RKRKRKRK on Vimeo.

Ronnie beat Ali Carter by 10-7 yesterday evening to become the Masters Champion for a record extending 8th time. He is now both the youngest and the oldest winner of the prestigious invitational event. Maybe a bit surprisingly, it’s the first time he wins the UK and the Masters in the same season

Congratulations Ronnie!

Here is the report by WST

Ronnie O’Sullivan became MrQ Masters champion for the eighth time in his career, after beating Ali Carter 10-7 in a thrilling final at Alexandra Palace.

At 48 years old, victory sees O’Sullivan surpass Stuart Bingham as the oldest ever Masters champion. Bingham was 43 when he defeated Carter in the 2020 final. That means O’Sullivan is now the oldest winner of all three Triple Crown events.

After his win at the UK Championship in December, O’Sullivan has now given himself an opportunity to win all three Triple Crown events in a single season for the first time in his career. He will achieve that feat if he wins the World Championship at the Crucible in May.

It’s a record extending eighth Masters triumph for the Rocket, who surpassed Stephen Hendry’s previous record of six when he defeated Joe Perry in 2017. He’s now won an unparalleled 23 Triple Crown titles, five clear of Hendry’s 18.

German Masters champion Carter suffers his fourth defeat in four Triple Crown finals. As well as today’s result, and his loss to Bingham four years ago, he was runner-up in two Crucible finals to O’Sullivan in 2008 and 2012. Carter leaves North London with the consolation of the £100,000 runner-up prize.

The evening session began with Carter holding a 5-3 advantage, after emerging ahead following a rapid afternoon of play. He took the opener this evening to extend his cushion to three frames at 6-3.

At that point the Rocket hit the after burners, making breaks of 58, 64 and 53 on his way to three on the bounce and parity at 6-6. The pair then went in for the mid-session interval, which appeared to come at the right time for Carter, who needed to wrest back momentum.

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When play resumed, Carter regained his foothold in the tie, crafting a sublime 127 to edge back in front at 7-6. That century was his ninth of the tournament, which is a new record for the event. It moved Carter ahead of O’Sullivan who made eight in 2007 and 2009.

O’Sullivan responded by controlling the 14^th to draw level once more. There was then a dramatic frame which swung back and forth, before Carter crucially overcut a pink to the middle. That allowed O’Sullivan to pounce and hit the front for the first time since the opening frame of the match.

The 40-time ranking event winner then compounded that mistake from Carter with a steely 89 to move one from victory at 9-7. Carter had a number of chances in the 17^th, but failed to make any count, with the Rocket getting himself over the line for yet another momentous victory and the £250,000 top prize.

“I don’t know how I’ve won this tournament to be honest with you. I’ve just dug deep. I’ve tried to play with a bit of freedom and tonight I just thought I had to try to keep Ali honest. If he was going to win it, he was going to have to scrape me off the table. I just wanted to see if he had it at the end. That was what I was thinking coming into the evening session, could he get over the line?” 

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Eight-Time Masters Champion

O’Sullivan added: “Ali didn’t play great tonight. He played better this afternoon, but tonight he let me off the hook a few times. He was aggressive today, but tonight he didn’t take on some of the balls I thought he might take on. That just gave me a little bit of breathing space and I did what I could and I tried to make the most and see what happened.

“I’ve had an amazing career. I love playing and I love competing. The crowd have always been good to me over the years. That is the one thing that I take from my career, the support that I’ve had all around the world. Not just here in London. To all the snooker fans out there. Thank you for your support over the years. I’ll keep trying until I can’t pot any more balls.”

Carter said: “It was a good week. I’m gutted I lost the final. It is all about winning at the end of the day. Before I rocked up here last week I’d have taken the final. There’s a lot of good things to come for me and I’m heading in the right direction.”

Ali Carter also set a record during this Masters: with 9 centuries during the event he betters Ronnie’s previous record of 8.

The quotes I put in bold, that’s very encouraging for us fans. That said Ronnie also said that he will probably take some extended period of rest after the World Grand Prix. It’s unsurprising but it means that he will probably withdraw from the 2024 German Masters wich is disappointing for the fans in mainland Europe.

As Ronnie himself would put it … it is what it is.

Here are the scores

Here are more images shared on social media during and after the match.

And videos shared by Eurosport on their YouTube channel

What many fans don’t realise is that Ronnie is not a naturally confident person and that makes his achievements even more remarkable.

Speaking to Eurosport he said this:

“When I was 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, I thought I was even better than I am now, to be honest,”

“Technically I was. Technically, I felt I was much better [with] more consistency. These days, I’m more in and out and it’s got better since 2001.

“I’ve had to work on the technical side just to keep things tight, as tight as I can. I have some good spells, good months, good years sometimes, but then I have some awful months and awful years.

“I just accept that’s how it is and I just try and play my way through it. Hopefully it comes good at some point but it’s quite a struggle the game for me at the moment, confidence-wise.”

Day 7 at the Masters is semi-finals day and the two players who emerged the winners of their semi-finals are Ronnie and Ali Carter. Here are the reports by WST on yesterdays matches:

ROCKET SET FOR 14TH MASTERS FINAL

Ronnie O’Sullivan remained on course for a record extending eighth MrQ Masters crown, after brushing aside Shaun Murphy 6-2 in the semi-finals at Alexandra Palace.

This afternoon’s showdown was the first time O’Sullivan and Murphy have crossed cues in the Masters, having surprisingly avoided each other in snooker’s biggest invitational event during their storied careers.

O’Sullivan’s win today enhances his already dominant head-to-head record against Murphy. He now leads his fellow Englishman 14-3 in meetings between the pair.

Despite his remarkable record in the Masters, 40-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan hasn’t lifted the title in North London since 2017, when he defeated Joe Perry in then final. His last trip to the title match saw him suffer defeat at the hands of Judd Trump in 2019.

Either Mark Allen or Ali Carter will now be standing in the Rocket’s way, when the tomorrow’s final takes place with a top prize of £250,000 and the Paul Hunter Trophy on the line.

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Defeat ends Murphy’s quest for a second Masters crown, following his victory in 2015. However, the Magician can reflect on a good week, which included fine wins over debutant Zhang Anda and Jack Lisowski.

Both players had chances in an edgy opening frame this afternoon, but it was O’Sullivan who eventually took it, before claiming the second to move 2-0 ahead.

Murphy fired in a sublime 131 to take the third frame and gain a foothold in the match. However, O’Sullivan won a 27-minute third to edge further in front at 3-1 heading into the mid-session.

After the interval, a break of exactly 100 pulled Murphy within a frame at 3-2, before O’Sullivan charged to the line. Runs of 90, 71 and 62 were enough to give him three on the bounce and wrap up a dominant 6-2 victory.

“I’m not going to sweat guts out there. I’m not going to make 20 or 30 and play safe. There is no point and I’m not going to enjoy it like that, so go for doubles and trebles. I’m not playing kamikaze shots, there is an element of safety, but I can’t leave the table when I think I should have cleared up. I can’t do it.”

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Seven-time Masters Champion

“I’m not going to be out there like Selby and Allen were last night. I’m not that hungry,” added 48-year-old O’Sullivan whilst speaking to BBC Sport.

“If I play Carter it will be a right nightmare, because he wants to get in my face. I can deal with him. Allen is good, solid and strong. Whoever it is, it is going to be tough. If they bring their game and their bottle, both of them should win. You never know I might find another clue tomorrow.”

Murphy said: “He was too good, as simple as that. Sometimes you can look at your own game. I missed a couple of shots here or there, but it felt like from my point of view that I played better in that match than I have in the previous two. I just thought Ronnie was superb. If he plays like that you may as well give him the trophy now.”

You will find more content about this match – notably by Eurosport – here.

CAPTAIN SETS UP O’SULLIVAN FINAL

Ali Carter is through to his second MrQ Masters final after an enthralling 6-3 semi-final defeat of Mark Allen at Alexandra Palace.

The Captain now faces a mouth-watering clash with old adversary and record breaking seven-time Masters champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final.

The head-to-head standings stack up heavily in world number one O’Sullivan’s favour, who leads by a 17-1 margin. Carter’s solitary victory against the Rocket came in a fiery World Championship encounter back in 2018.

Carter is hunting what would be a dream maiden Triple Crown title, having already appeared in three finals. Two of those were against tomorrow’s opponent O’Sullivan. He succumbed to an 18-8 defeat in the 2008 world final, as well as an 18-11 loss at the Crucible in 2012. Carter was runner-up to Stuart Bingham here at Alexandra Palace in 2020, after losing a pulsating final 10-8.

Allen falls short of appearing in his second Masters final. The Pistol fired to victory here in 2018, after beating Kyren Wilson 10-7 in the title match. However, he will have to settle for the last four this year. He has the consolation of heading to the Crucible knowing he is a maximum break away from scooping a massive £147,000 payout. Allen fired in the perfect break in yesterday’s semi-final with Mark Selby.

It was Allen who took a tight first frame this evening, before Carter produced a spellbinding burst to take charge. A break of 71 restored parity and he then fired in three consecutive century runs of 100, 101 and 105 to move 4-1 ahead.

Northern Irishman Allen continued the scintillating standard in the sixth frame, producing the match’s fourth consecutive century with a break of 101 to stay in contention at 4-2. A dramatic seventh swung one way then the other.

Carter looked set to move one from the win when an unexpected miss with the rest ended his break on 55. Allen stepped up to make a superb clearance of 39 to steal on the black and make it 4-3.

Essex’s Carter then moved one from the win at 5-3, but faced a gruelling 45-minute ninth frame. It came right down to the final blue, which Carter eventually cut into the top left ahead of depositing the pink for a famous victory.

“I got it going in the middle of the match. I played some really good stuff there. Mark made it tough and showed what a great competitor he is. I’m delighted to get through to another Triple Crown final.”

Ali Carter

German Masters Champion

“I have every confidence. I’ve just got to worry about my game and I’m relishing the challenge. What better than to play the greatest player of all time on the biggest stage? It doesn’t get any better,” said world number ten Carter.

“To not be in awe is the main thing for me to concentrate on tomorrow and to enjoy it. I need to enjoy the occasion. I probably didn’t enjoy the two world finals as much as I should have done looking back now I’d love to rewind the clock and just enjoy it. That is what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

Allen said: “Ali played very well tonight. That is the difference. Mark Selby and John Higgins had their chances and didn’t take them, Ali did. I played the way I have all week to be honest, I was really struggling for form. I gave it everything and I got myself back in the game at 4-3. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

This is Ronnie fourteenth Masters Final. He’s won seven of the previous thirteen. Can he make it eight? Will he dig in hard if needed? Going by his quotes yesterday, he won’t, but today is another day. What will he do when he will actually be at the table? I’m not sure. It would be great of course if he get an eight Masters title, but on the other hand that will only feed the “888 narrative” and add pressure come the World Championship.

Ali Carter played really well yesterday, as he did most of the week. He’s been the more consistent player in this tournament so far. He certainly has his chances today.

Ronnie beat Shaun Murphy by 6-2 this afternoon at Alexandra Palace to book his place in the 2024 Masters Final. This is Ronnie’s 14th Masters’ Final. He won seven of the previous 13. He’s going for a record extending 8th Masters crown, and a 23rd Triple Crown title.

It was a match in two halves. Ronnie looked quite out of sorts before the MSI, but played much better after the interval. Here are the scores:

This is the report on the match, shared by Eurosport.

MASTERS SNOOKER 2024: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN CONTINUES DOMINANCE OF SHAUN MURPHY TO REACH FINAL

BY ALEX LIVIE

Ronnie O’Sullivan and Shaun Murphy did battle in the semi-finals of the Masters at Alexandra Palace on Saturday afternoon. The world No. 1 was not at his mesmeric best, but he produced a strong performance to get the better of Murphy and set up a meeting with either Mark Allen or Ali Carter in Sunday’s final. …

Ronnie O’Sullivan extended his exemplary record in Masters semi-finals with a 6-2 victory over Shaun Murphy.

In 14 previous semi-final appearances at the Masters, O’Sullivan emerged victorious on 13 occasions.

That run was extended at Alexandra Palace on Saturday afternoon, despite the seven-time winner of the event being well short of his best.

Murphy had chances to put pressure on O’Sullivan, but failed to take the big opportunities that came his way as the world No. 1 extended his winning run over Murphy to six in a row.

O’Sullivan opened up the match with a break of 30 before missing, but wrestled the initiative with a superb snooker that drew an error from Murphy.

He missed frame-ball red on two occasions, and was forced to get out of a host of snookers laid by Murphy before potting the blue and closing out the frame.

Murphy got a chance to steady the nerves after an O’Sullivan miss at the start of the second, but he lost position and eventually missed a black as his break came to a close at 32. 

O’Sullivan replied with 56, but failed to get on the final red. On this occasion, the 48-year-old had the upper hand in the safety exchange and cleared to the pink to open up a two-frame lead.

There were surprising misses from both players in the third. One from O’Sullivan proved the costliest as Murphy crafted a break of 131 to establish a foothold in the contest.

The misses in the third were surprising from O’Sullivan, but some of the shot choices in the fourth were alarming.

On a couple of occasions he took on high-tariff pots that did not look on, and on both occasions they were missed by a distance. But he seemed to regain composure as the frame developed and won a safety exchange to move 3-1 ahead at the interval.

Murphy would have been frustrated to be behind at the break and responded superbly – capitalising on a poor break from O’Sullivan to craft the 29th century of his Masters career to take the fifth frame.

O’Sullivan’s form was patchy before the interval, and the sight of a second Murphy ton in the fifth could have been a concern but he responded in superb fashion in the sixth.

He knocked in a superb long red to get underway and cued superbly – by far his best passage of play in the match – as a run of 90 restored a two-frame cushion.

Murphy got in first in the seventh but had awkward cueing on a blue and failed to make the pot. O’Sullivan did not look in the mood to pass up the invitation, and a run of 71 moved him to within one frame of victory.

O’Sullivan snuffed out danger in wins over Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins earlier in the week, and did so in style against Murphy.

With the winning post in sight, he knocked in a fabulous red and raced through a break of 62.

The highlight was a stunning double to keep the break going on 40, but he missed a pot to the right middle to give Murphy a lifeline. He did not take it, missing a simple red to the bottom right corner which allowed O’Sullivan to return to wrap up the win and put himself one victory away from an eighth Masters crown.

Some images shared on social media by WST:

And here some videos shared by ES on their YouTube channel