Ronnie races through
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the man to beat at the UK Championship
Thursday, 13, Dec 2007 09:48
Ronnie O'Sullivan raced into the semi-finals of the Maplin UK Championship with a 9-2 win over youngster Jamie Cope.
The 32-year-old led 6-2 from the afternoon session and only needed 27 minutes this evening to wrap up victory.
O'Sullivan outscored Cope by 233 points in the second session, with the highlight coming in the 10th frame. The world number five looked on course for his eight competitive 147 when he potted 14 reds and 14 blacks. But he was unsuccessful with a double attempt on the final red.
"I was able to mount sustained pressure and force the openings and force my opponent to try and come out and win it," said O'Sullivan, a three-time winner of the event," said O'Sullivan.
"My break-building has been good this season, and the long-potting came together today as well."
O'Sullivan, a two-time world champion, may have had an easy win but he saw enough in Cope to recognise he will be star in the future.
He said: "He's [Cope] a good player and one of the up-and-coming players. He's got a good touch, he plays free-flowing snooker and he makes you think you're going to be in for a good game.
"You never expect a result like that, he could have quite easily done what I did to him. I enjoyed it out there, you have to make the most of it when you play like that."
O'Sullivan will now play either Marco Fu, who beat him in the final of the Grand Prix, or Mark Selby in the semi-finals.