Snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan set up a Masters final showdown with defending champion Mark Selby after thrashing Stephen Maguire at Wembley Arena last night. O'Sullivan fired in a century in the opening frame and added further breaks of 84, 66, 136 and 70 to complete an emphatic 6-1 victory.
In contrast Maguire, who had been so impressive in beating Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals, managed a highest break of just 44 and looked completely out of touch.
The only frame he won was the third, when O’Sullivan gave away 16 points attempting to get out of a snooker, eventually leaving Maguire a free ball.
The Scot was in first in the fourth frame but managed just 28 and O’Sullivan stepped in with a break of 84 to lead 3-1 at the interval.
The world champion then stepped up a gear to take the next three frames as well as Maguire never threatened to get back into the match.
Selby had earlier booked his place in a second successive Masters final with a 6-2 victory over John Higgins.
Higgins led 2-1 at Wembley Arena before Selby rattled off the next five frames in a row.
Five of Selby’s previous six Masters matches had gone down to the final frame but for once he made life easy for himself with a much improved performance after the mid-session interval.
A century put Selby 3-2 ahead and after he took the sixth frame as well, the right-hander made a break of 82 to get within one frame of victory.
He fell just short of another century in the eighth frame but had done more than enough to complete a memorable win.