Ronnie O’Sullivan set up a Masters final with Barry Hawkins after seeing off the world champion, Stuart Bingham, 6-3 at London’s Alexandra Palace.
Having lost the opening frame, O’Sullivan put himself firmly in the driving seat by claiming the next five in a row, making a break of 121 along the way.
Bingham, the world No2, who had never won a Masters match prior to this year, subsequently rallied to make it 5-3. But the five-times world champion O’Sullivan then won a tight ninth to finish the job and advance to his 11th Masters final, where the world No6 will be bidding for a sixth title.
Hawkins, the world No8, another man never to have got beyond the first round before this year, booked his place in the final earlier on Saturday with a surprise 6-4 win over Judd Trump.
Trump, who on Friday had emerged victorious from a thrilling quarter-final clash against Neil Robertson having made the 2016 tournament’s highest break of 140, was widely regarded as favourite for this contest but he was stunned early on as Hawkins reeled off two centuries, 130 and then 128, to take the first two frames. Trump fought back to level at 2-2, and then, after his opponent regained the lead, made it 3-3 with a break of 103, before moving ahead for the first time at 4-3.
But Hawkins took the next three frames to seal the triumph, adding his third century break of the match with 100 in the middle of those. Hawkins said: “He [Trump] was obviously favourite to beat me with the way he played yesterday, but I always know if you can take your practice game out there you have a chance, and today I managed to do that.”
Asked where his form had come from, Hawkins said: “I don’t know. It is probably a little bit similar to the Crucible [the World Championship, where he had never got beyond the second round before 2013] – I won a game there and it settled me down.
“Perhaps that is what has happened here. I can’t believe I am in the final now. I have a chance of winning it, and I am over the moon.”
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