Ragged Ronnie O'Sullivan does enough to beat Barry Hawkins in Masters quarter-final

11/01/2024 16:44

Ronnie O’Sullivan is into the semi-finals of The Masters thanks to a 6-4 win over Barry Hawkins despite a performance that was well below par.

Neither man could find their best form with any kind of regularity in the quarter-final contest at Alexandra Palace and the Hawk will be very disappointed he couldn’t capitalise on the chance for a rare victory over the Rocket.

Things had looked good early on when O’Sullivan knocked in an 88 to take the first frame, while Hawkins made back-to-back half-centuries to go 3-2 ahead after the invterval.

Then came a lot of misses and mistakes from both players in the following frames, but it was O’Sullivan who was managing to win frames, taking the next two close ones before a break of 60 to go 5-3 up.

Hawkins again had a chance in the 9th, going 50 points ahead, but missed a red to middle and the Rocket stepped in to win frame and match impressively, looking as good as he had all day as he made 77.

It is rare that an O’Sullivan match of this length will go by without a century scored, but it matters not, with the Rocket able to regroup and go again on Saturday against either Jack Lisowski or Shaun Murphy in the semi-finals.

‘I just feel sorry for Barry. He was playing good until he started playing me and I just dragged him down to the most awful standard of snooker,’ said O’Sullivan.

‘So I’m really sorry about that today. I’m just lucky to get through.’

More to follow…

MORE : Ronnie O’Sullivan takes immense Barry Hawkins record into Masters quarter-final clash

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