Ronnie O’Sullivan is through to yet another Masters semi-final having managed to withstand a mini-comeback from old foe Peter Ebdon, while Shaun Murphy is currently embroiled in a tough match with former Wembley Master Mark Williams…
Results from Global Snooker:
Mark Williams 6-4 Shaun Murphy
43(43)-85(57), 76(76)-42(42), 109(53,56)-8, 75(71)-14, 86(62)-16, 0-100(100), 38-93(57), 0-103(97), 71(63)-32
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-3 Peter Ebdon
92(92)-34, 76(53)-19, 95(74)-0, 97(55,32)-22, 37-70(34), 62(54)-73(38), 97(53,44)-12, 1-65(37), 106(106)-32
Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan might not be happy with his game but he was more than a match for Peter Ebdon today, defeating the 2002 world champion for the second consecutive BBC event. Indeed O’Sullivan was quick out of the traps today, breaks of 92, 74, 55, 53 and 32 putting him 4-0 up at the break before Ebdon began to show some resistance by taking the next two. Frame six in particular was well won as at one stage he trailed by 43 points with just 43 remaining.
Ultimately though it was to be the world number one who would progress and he sealed his latest victory with his third century of 106 in frame nine.
In the evening match meanwhile, Mark Williams has continued to defy his whiplash injury by defeating Shaun Murphy with another excellent performance tonight. Like Peter earlier, Shaun fought hard and at one point looked like he might level at 5-5 having trailed 5-2, but it was not to be and we now have a mouthwatering semi-final between two great Masters champions…