Rocket Flies In Berlin

Ronnie O’Sullivan made a century and four more breaks over 50 as he eased into the last 16 of the Kreativ Dental German Masters with a 5-1 win over Mark Davis.

The Rocket is bidding to win his third title of the season having already captured the Champion of Champions and UK Championship. He meets Joe Perry next at the Tempodrom.

Davis started strongly with a break of 110 in the opening frame, but five-time World Champion O’Sullivan then reeled off five in a row with top runs of 93, 51, 68, 62 and 117.

O’Sullivan could become world number one after this tournament, his chances boosted by current list-topper Ding Junhui’s exit today. But he said: “I’m not bothered about being number one or about winning, I’m just enjoying my snooker. I’ve played well for the last three or four years and I want to keep that going as long as I can.

“I love this venue and it’s always an appreciative crowd here. I’ll need to be on my A game tomorrow because Joe Perry should have beaten me at the World Championship and he’s just won an event in Asia so he’s on form.”

O’Sullivan is mixing his table time at this event with a pundit role for British Eurosport. “I’m enjoying spending time in the studio with the lads,” he added. “I want to embrace all opportunities now because you can’t take snooker itself too seriously. When it’s time for my matches I can switch on.”

Perry, who won the Xuzhou Open in China last month, eased to a 5-0 win over Jimmy Robertson with a top break of 76.

Shaun Murphy cruised a 5-1 win over Michael Wasley with a top break of 89, and he now meets Mark Allen who top scored with 87 in a 5-2 defeat of Mark Williams. Liang Wenbo won a Chinese derby against Li Hang 5-1 with a top run of 103.