O’Sullivan imperious as he gets better of Robertson

Ronnie O’Sullivan remains on course to be crowned Crucible champion for a fourth time after beating favourite Neil Robertson 13-10 last night.

The world No 13 enjoyed a purple patch in the middle session of their quarter-final match at the Betfred.com World Championship, turning a 5-3 deficit into a 9-5 lead after reeling off six successive frames.

Australian Robertson, the world No 3 and 2010 champion, had to draw upon all his battling qualities to stay with O’Sullivan.

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In this mood, though, O’Sullivan is unplayable and any repeat of this passage of form would see him take another giant step towards adding to the world titles he picked up in 2001, 2004 and 2008.

Many players would have wilted in the face of such play, but the Australian dug deep to snatch the final two frames and keep in touching distance at 9-7 going into last night’s final session.

The pair traded the opening two frames, O’Sullivan the more impressive with a 104 break, before a missed black off its spot by Robertson gifted his opponent the 19th frame to edge 11-8 ahead.

Another century clearance from O’Sullivan saw him move to just one frame from victory, but the 36-year-old Essex cueman was then forced to sit and watch as Robertson replied with breaks of 89 and 77 to salvage two frames and trail 12-10.

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O’Sullivan was not to be denied, a 59 clearance enough to clinch his semi-final with Welshman Matthew Stevens, which starts tonight. The match, which stretches over three days and finishes Saturday, will be refereed by Sheffield official Brendan Moore.

Robertson said: “I didn’t quite get going this afternoon which cost me the match in the end but fair play to Ronnie as he played some great stuff.”

For Stevens, tonight’s semi-final offers the chance to get rid of an unwanted tag.

For the 34-year-old Welshman, twice a Crucible final loser, is widely regarded – along with the likes of Jimmy White – as one of the best players never to have been crowned world champion.

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He spent a decade trying to land the sport’s ultimate prize, reaching the quarter-final three times, semi-finals four times and the final twice.

But today is the first time since his 2005 final defeat to Shaun Murphy that Stevens is back in the last four at the Crucible after several years in the wilderness having slipped out of the elite top 16.

A 13-5 quarter-final win over countryman Ryan Day clinched his semi-final spot, an amazing 11-frame winning streak seeing him roar back from 5-2 down.

“I’d be lying if I said that I thought I’d get back here – to the semi-finals of the World Championship,” said Stevens.  “It would mean everything to win it, but I feel I’m going to have to improve if I’m going to go any further.

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“It’s been a long few years. It has been disappointing watching all the other guys having success here when years ago I was getting to the semis or quarter-finals almost every year. Being in the later stages of this event means the world to me. It is what I practise for, and I am very proud of myself.”

The other semi-final, starting this afternoon, sees Stephen Maguire face 2008 finalist Ali Carter after the latter held off a late challenge from Jamie Jones.

World No 17 Carter looked like clinching victory when he moved 12-8 in front, but rookie Welshman Jones – on Crucible debut – battled back to trail 12-11. It left 32-year-old Carter to draw upon all his experience as he rattled in a 73 break to clinch a 13-11 victory.

BBC TV ratings for this year’s World Championship have risen between 10 and 27 per cent, while the cumulative audience in China is 350 million.

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To reflect the growing interest in the Far East, there will be five ranking tournaments in China next season including the Wuxi Classic. Next season there will also be a new Asian Order of Merit, and three Players Tour Championship events in China. One of the Asian PTC events will be in the week before the Wuxi Classic, with one after the Shanghai Masters and one before the International Championship.

The new-look calendar was revealed yesterday by World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn who also announced there will be tournaments for 50 weeks of the year, with just a week at Christmas and a summer week blank.

Hearn – who also revealed The Masters will be staged at Alexandra Palace for the next three years – wants one more major tournament in the UK, featuring a random draw rather than seedings.

“That’s the last event I’ve really got the buzz for,” he said.

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