Masters Snooker 2024: Ronnie O'Sullivan continues dominance of Shaun Murphy to reach final
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Updated 13/01/2024 at 16:10 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy did battle in the semi-finals of the Masters at Alexandra Palace on Saturday afternoon. The world No. 1 was not at his mesmeric best, but he produced a strong performance to get the better of Murphy and set up a meeting with either Mark Allen or Ali Carter in Sunday's final. Stream the 2024 Masters live on Eurosport and discovery+
‘Oh no’ - O’Sullivan escapes from snooker and flukes pot against Murphy
Ronnie O’Sullivan extended his exemplary record in Masters semi-finals with a 6-2 victory over Shaun Murphy.
In 14 previous semi-final appearances at the Masters, O’Sullivan emerged victorious on 13 occasions.
That run was extended at Alexandra Palace on Saturday afternoon, despite the seven-time winner of the event being well short of his best.
Murphy had chances to put pressure on O’Sullivan, but failed to take the big opportunities that came his way as the world No. 1 extended his winning run over Murphy to six in a row.
O’Sullivan opened up the match with a break of 30 before missing, but wrestled the initiative with a superb snooker that drew an error from Murphy.
He missed frame-ball red on two occasions, and was forced to get out of a host of snookers laid by Murphy before potting the blue and closing out the frame.
Murphy got a chance to steady the nerves after an O’Sullivan miss at the start of the second, but he lost position and eventually missed a black as his break came to a close at 32.
O’Sullivan replied with 56, but failed to get on the final red. On this occasion, the 48-year-old had the upper hand in the safety exchange and cleared to the pink to open up a two-frame lead.
There were surprising misses from both players in the third. One from O’Sullivan proved the costliest as Murphy crafted a break of 131 to establish a foothold in the contest.
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‘Outstanding’ - Murphy makes superb 131 clearance against O’Sullivan
The misses in the third were surprising from O’Sullivan, but some of the shot choices in the fourth were alarming.
On a couple of occasions he took on high-tariff pots that did not look on, and on both occasions they were missed by a distance. But he seemed to regain composure as the frame developed and won a safety exchange to move 3-1 ahead at the interval.
Murphy would have been frustrated to be behind at the break and responded superbly - capitalising on a poor break from O’Sullivan to craft the 29th century of his Masters career to take the fifth frame.
O’Sullivan’s form was patchy before the interval, and the sight of a second Murphy ton in the fifth could have been a concern but he responded in superb fashion in the sixth.
He knocked in a superb long red to get underway and cued superbly - by far his best passage of play in the match - as a run of 90 restored a two-frame cushion.
Murphy got in first in the seventh but had awkward cueing on a blue and failed to make the pot. O’Sullivan did not look in the mood to pass up the invitation, and a run of 71 moved him to within one frame of victory.
O’Sullivan snuffed out danger in wins over Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins earlier in the week, and did so in style against Murphy.
With the winning post in sight, he knocked in a fabulous red and raced through a break of 62.
The highlight was a stunning double to keep the break going on 40, but he missed a pot to the right middle to give Murphy a lifeline. He did not take it, missing a simple red to the bottom right corner which allowed O’Sullivan to return to wrap up the win and put himself one victory away from an eighth Masters crown.
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