O'Sullivan takes title

SNOOKER:Century king Ronnie O'Sullivan put his troubles behind him to down Chinese prodigy Ding Junhui in spectacular fashion in The Masters final last night.

O'Sullivan stormed to an impressive 10-3 victory in front of a bumper crowd at the Wembley Arena, pocketing four centuries on the way to winning the £130,000 winners' cheque.

And with his convincing triumph, which delighted his army of fans on home turf, he secured his third Masters title in his seventh final.

Ding, who scooped £62,000 as this year's runner-up, started the better and deservedly won the opening two frames of this year's best-of-19 frame showdown.

O'Sullivan missed a pot on a black into a middle pocket - and took his cue to pocket a 77 break for a 1-0 lead. The talented teenager soon doubled his advantage thanks to an excellent 109 run, the first century of the match. A pot on a long red gave him the chance to get in.

But for the next four frames it was all O'Sullivan. A break of 55 saw the world number three reduce his arrears to 2-1, before Ding ran out of position on the green ball and his opponent swooped to level matters with a cool 99 break.

O'Sullivan compiled a 101 break for a second successive ton, before a break of 56 gave him the advantage in the penultimate frame of the afternoon session.

However, having been in trouble, Ding snookered O'Sullivan, managed to get two fouls on the pink ball and potted a wonderful long pink to make it 4-3. But it was O'Sullivan, with another century (116) - his third of the match - who managed to maintain his advantage going into the concluding evening session.

O'Sullivan came out of the blocks firing. Ding missed a long red and O'Sullivan coolly slotted home a 96 break to increase his lead to three frames.The onslaught continued and O'Sullivan took himself within two frames of victory.

O'Sullivan won the next frame with a 49 run to leave him just one frame from a famous victory. Strangley O'Sullivan then put his arm around Ding just before the players walked off for the first interval of the evening session after Ding offered his hand in resignation.

The players did return after a 20-minute break, but a World Snooker spokesman confirmed that Ding had thought the match was the best-of-17 frames instead of the scheduled 19. It made little difference as O'Sullivan, with a break of 74, won the first frame after the interval to secure this year's coveted title.