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RONNIE O'Sullivan stormed into the quarter finals of the UK Championships with a 9-3 destruction of Peter Ebdon.
The Rocket had struggled to find ignition in his match against Matthew Stevens but the only blast off that happened here at Telford was the one Ebdon was on the receiving end of.
Ronnie was in unplayable mood for the first four frames, and the man Ebdon had likened to Mozart was busy composing a symphony of high quality match player snooker while Ebdon seemed to be stuck in a jamming session. The first frame went the way of Ronnie with the help of a 73 break. Soon it was 2-0. Peter was barely getting a look in. He was doing plenty of watching from afar though - from his seat as O'Sullivan rattled in a break of 114 to go 3-0 up.
Ebdon badly needed the fourth frame to stay in touch with Ronnie but Ronnie managed to miss a sitter of a red to the corner when at close range. It was a delicate cut but quite simply Ronnie didn't hit the cue ball hard enough and the chance was presented to Peter. Dropping the red in Peter had the best chance he had had of the match, he was in good position on a break of 20 when he found himself hampered by a red when lining up the pink. Striking down on the cue ball Peter's cue just touched the red. Straightaway as the pink dropped Peter called himself for a foul. It was a sporting gesture that befits the game and was applauded by Ronnie. Not that Ronnie was in the mood to be charitable towards his luckless opponant as he rolled in a 46 break before overcutting the penultimate red.
Ebdon removed it - but then managed to run out of position so was forced into safety, constructing a snooker that left the cue ball behind the blue and the yellow with the final red trapped on the side cushion. That snooker was to yield twelve penalty points from the Rocket and half a chance for Ebdon. It was a long red, and not a shot that you will be confident of nailing if you haven't had plenty of table time. Ebdon's attempt missed by some distance and worse still shot up to the baulk end of the table with the cue ball closely following. With the red close to the pocket O'Sullivan had no trouble in dropping it in and with it the brown beofre seconds later clearing from yellow to black for a 4-0 lead.
The interval had come to Ebdon's rescue as it gave him time to compose himself yet he would not have been under any illusion of the task facing him, he badly needed a frame to give him some sort of foothold in the match and he finally broke his duck in frame five when he fired in a long red to the "yellow" pocket and pieced together a 63 break to avert the prospect of the dreaded whitewash.
The momentum had shifted slightly but it was to be only briefly as Ebdon ran out of position when in among the balls forcing him to play safe. Minutes later he erred leaving Ronnie the chance of a long straight red to the corner. The red never touched the sides as it flew in. Ebdon settled back in his chair - he knew what was coming, and so it proved an 83 break to move 5-1 ahead. To Ebdon's credit he responded again by taking the seventh frame with the help of a break of 46, but it wasn't flowing snooker from Peter that was winning the frames he did win, more patient and methodical.
So would it be 6-2 or 5-3 to Ronnie at the end of the fist session. The answer was swift and decisive. A long red slammed into the top corner pocket from tight on the baulk cushion left Ronnie on the brown, and the Rocket made no mistake - strutting round the table to fire in a break of 118 to give himself a 6-2 lead at the interval.
If anyone thought Ronnie's level might drop after the interval they were to be mistaken- but he was getting a helping hand from Peter who had the first chance of the evening session- except a simple red missed to the centre sent the former champion back his seat as Ronnie confidently rolled in a 76 break to stretch his lead to 7-2. Peter was in the deepest trouble and badly needed to start stringing shots together if he wasn't going to suffer a heavy defeat. To an minor extent he did manage it with a 57 to reduce his arrears to 7-3 but that was to be the sum total of his achievements for the night as O'Sullivan replied with a 90 break to move within a frame of victory and needed just a further 10 minutes to complete the demolition when after gifting Ebdon a chance that Peter could only make 36. With the scores poised at 40-36 in Ronnie's favour he concoted a clever snooker with just the colours on the table. Hiding the cue ball behind the brown Ronnie saw Peter bungle his safety and leave him with the colours at his mercy. Seconds later it was all over as O'Sullivan completed a 9-3 victory and set up a quarter final tie with Mark Selby
Elsewhere today Stephen Maguire eased past Stuart Bingham 9-3 while Peter Lines shocked Mark Williams, winning a final frame shoot out to set up a meeting with Maguire
Suzy Jardine
The Rocket had struggled to find ignition in his match against Matthew Stevens but the only blast off that happened here at Telford was the one Ebdon was on the receiving end of.
Ronnie was in unplayable mood for the first four frames, and the man Ebdon had likened to Mozart was busy composing a symphony of high quality match player snooker while Ebdon seemed to be stuck in a jamming session. The first frame went the way of Ronnie with the help of a 73 break. Soon it was 2-0. Peter was barely getting a look in. He was doing plenty of watching from afar though - from his seat as O'Sullivan rattled in a break of 114 to go 3-0 up.
Ebdon badly needed the fourth frame to stay in touch with Ronnie but Ronnie managed to miss a sitter of a red to the corner when at close range. It was a delicate cut but quite simply Ronnie didn't hit the cue ball hard enough and the chance was presented to Peter. Dropping the red in Peter had the best chance he had had of the match, he was in good position on a break of 20 when he found himself hampered by a red when lining up the pink. Striking down on the cue ball Peter's cue just touched the red. Straightaway as the pink dropped Peter called himself for a foul. It was a sporting gesture that befits the game and was applauded by Ronnie. Not that Ronnie was in the mood to be charitable towards his luckless opponant as he rolled in a 46 break before overcutting the penultimate red.
Ebdon removed it - but then managed to run out of position so was forced into safety, constructing a snooker that left the cue ball behind the blue and the yellow with the final red trapped on the side cushion. That snooker was to yield twelve penalty points from the Rocket and half a chance for Ebdon. It was a long red, and not a shot that you will be confident of nailing if you haven't had plenty of table time. Ebdon's attempt missed by some distance and worse still shot up to the baulk end of the table with the cue ball closely following. With the red close to the pocket O'Sullivan had no trouble in dropping it in and with it the brown beofre seconds later clearing from yellow to black for a 4-0 lead.
The interval had come to Ebdon's rescue as it gave him time to compose himself yet he would not have been under any illusion of the task facing him, he badly needed a frame to give him some sort of foothold in the match and he finally broke his duck in frame five when he fired in a long red to the "yellow" pocket and pieced together a 63 break to avert the prospect of the dreaded whitewash.
The momentum had shifted slightly but it was to be only briefly as Ebdon ran out of position when in among the balls forcing him to play safe. Minutes later he erred leaving Ronnie the chance of a long straight red to the corner. The red never touched the sides as it flew in. Ebdon settled back in his chair - he knew what was coming, and so it proved an 83 break to move 5-1 ahead. To Ebdon's credit he responded again by taking the seventh frame with the help of a break of 46, but it wasn't flowing snooker from Peter that was winning the frames he did win, more patient and methodical.
So would it be 6-2 or 5-3 to Ronnie at the end of the fist session. The answer was swift and decisive. A long red slammed into the top corner pocket from tight on the baulk cushion left Ronnie on the brown, and the Rocket made no mistake - strutting round the table to fire in a break of 118 to give himself a 6-2 lead at the interval.
If anyone thought Ronnie's level might drop after the interval they were to be mistaken- but he was getting a helping hand from Peter who had the first chance of the evening session- except a simple red missed to the centre sent the former champion back his seat as Ronnie confidently rolled in a 76 break to stretch his lead to 7-2. Peter was in the deepest trouble and badly needed to start stringing shots together if he wasn't going to suffer a heavy defeat. To an minor extent he did manage it with a 57 to reduce his arrears to 7-3 but that was to be the sum total of his achievements for the night as O'Sullivan replied with a 90 break to move within a frame of victory and needed just a further 10 minutes to complete the demolition when after gifting Ebdon a chance that Peter could only make 36. With the scores poised at 40-36 in Ronnie's favour he concoted a clever snooker with just the colours on the table. Hiding the cue ball behind the brown Ronnie saw Peter bungle his safety and leave him with the colours at his mercy. Seconds later it was all over as O'Sullivan completed a 9-3 victory and set up a quarter final tie with Mark Selby
Elsewhere today Stephen Maguire eased past Stuart Bingham 9-3 while Peter Lines shocked Mark Williams, winning a final frame shoot out to set up a meeting with Maguire
Suzy Jardine