Ronnie O'Sullivan is just two wins away from taking six titles in a single season for only the second time in his career, having crushed Ali Carter 10-2 in the quarter-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Tour Championship in Manchester.
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O'Sullivan has now won 19 of his 20 career meetings with Carter, and today's battle was a one-sided affair as the Rocket dominated from the start. He goes through to face Gary Wilson or Zhang Anda in the semi-finals on Friday at 1pm and 7pm.
Carter had hoped to gain revenge for defeat in January's Masters final, but his only highlight was a break of 141, the highest of the tournament so far, when he was already 7-0 down.
So far in 2023/24, O'Sullivan has won five tournaments, including the UK Championship and the Masters, and at the age of 48 he could be on his way to his best ever season. The only previous campaign in which he won six titles was back in 2000/01. He has also now been world number one for two years, his longest ever spell at the top of the rankings.
Breaks of 77, 87, 54, 51, 81 and 92 helped O'Sullivan take the first seven frames. Carter rallied to 7-2, but a missed red on 38 in frame ten ended his hopes of a fight-back, as runs of 62, 54 and 67 helped O'Sullivan win the last three frames.
Despite his trophy haul this season, O'Sullivan insists that he is not satisfied with his performances or technique. "I am having to accept how I play, and go with what I have got," he told ITV. "That is life, you can't be perfect all the time. Trying to be perfect is not ideal. I have to get my head around that because I have driven myself mad for the last two years."
Asked about his mustard-coloured shirt, O'Sullivan added: "We have a lot of badges for different tournaments, I have used up every black shirt and this was the only one I had left in the wardrobe."
On the other table, Ding Junhui earned a 5-3 overnight lead against Mark Allen in a match which finishes on Thursday evening.
Allen took the opening frame with a break of 100, then Ding dominated the next three with a top run of 70. The Chinese ace might have added frame five but missed a risky pot on the last red along a side cushion, handing Allen the chance to close to 3-2.
Frame six came down to the colours and Ding converted a superb pot on the brown to a centre pocket then cleared to the black to double his lead. Allen won the seventh with a run of 90 and had chances in the last frame of the session, but Ding won it to stay in front.
