O’Sullivan Into Fifth Ricoh Final

Ronnie O’Sullivan maintained his bid to win the ManBetX Champion of Champions for the third time as he beat Shaun Murphy 6-3 in the semi-finals on Friday evening.

O’Sullivan is into the final of the event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for the fifth time, and will face Mark Allen or Kyren Wilson on Sunday.

Breaks of 64 and 83 helped O’Sullivan build a 3-1 interval advantage, and though he missed chances in the fifth frame, he then fired runs of 129 and 127 to lead 5-2. Murphy made a 102, his second century of the match, to take frame eight, but O’Sullivan dominated the next to seal victory.

”I feel relieved to get over the line because I didn’t have the cue ball under complete control,” said world number three O’Sullivan. “That caused some nerves in my game, but my competitive instinct kicked in.”