Ronnie O'Sullivan's quest for a sixth Masters' title will have to wait for at least another year after being dismantled by world number one, Neil Robertson in yesterday's semi-final at the Alexandra Palace. The 'Rocket' was never really able to put himself in a position to challenge the Australian's dominance in the contest, as he ran out the convincing victor 6-1. He now faces Englishman Shaun Murphy in Sunday's final.
After exuberant displays earlier in the week from O'Sullivan had seen him display tremendous form in surpassing the all-time centuries' record with 776 during his illustrious career (now 777), he was brought down to earth by the solidity of his opponents' all-round game.
Robertson had seemed almost impeccable in his quarter-final win over Ali Carter with a 97% pot success rate, at one time reducing Carter to an 'all or nothing' shot as his patience during a testing bout of safety play wore thin, and seems to be able to draw on that class consistently at present.
Against the five-time world champion he made breaks of 100, 66 and 60 in a relentless display of classy snooker. The second frame loss will have been particularly galling for O'Sullivan, after he had looked in command with a 63-point break but missed the frame-ball black, handing the advantage back to his rival who promptly made a 66 break of his own to take it instead. Indeed, the only frame he won all night was with a 101 break in the fourth frame, such were the requirements to overcome his opponent.
The resounding defeat ended O'Sullivan's reign as Masters' champion and with it brought an end to his winning streak of 15 previous matches. In the aftermath he seemed to suggest that his form was not as good as it maybe could be at present, hinting at a need for more match play to compete at Robertson's current level.
Murphy defeated Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the second semi-final 6-2 and is in decent shape, after also beating Stephen Maguire and Mark Selby earlier in the week. In his match against Allen he scored heavily when at the table, with sizeable breaks of 80, 83, 76 and a century break as he came back from 2-0 down to take the next six frames in a row. He will be looking for his first Masters' crown in the best of nineteen frame final, after being a previous world and UK champion, and to avenge the 10-6 defeat to Robertson in the final in 2012. On current form though, Robertson will be odds-on to take the title again this year.