Ronnie O’Sullivan cruises into snooker World Championship final

London: Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan eased into this year’s World Championship final with a 17-7 win over Barry Hawkins on Friday.

Such was the scale of victory achieved by O’Sullivan, aiming for a third successive world title and sixth in all, he gave himself a day off at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, northern England.

O’Sullivan, in a repeat of last year’s final, led 5-2 overnight and the ‘Rocket’ stretched his advantage over his fellow Englishman to 11-5 by the close of Friday’s opening session.

When the semi-final match resumed later on Friday, he made breaks of 76, 55, 103 and 84 to reach his sixth world final.

In the second semi-final, Mark Selby, who was 5-3 up overnight against Australia’s Neil Robertson, the world number one and 2010 world champion, remained two frames in front at 9-7.

The Englishman had a chance to go 10-6 in front in the final frame of Friday’s play but a mistake on the black allowed Robertson, who came from 5-1 down to beat Selby in the UK Championship final in December, back in and his clearance to the pink ensured the match remained finely balanced.