O’Sullivan storms to UK triumph

Ronnie O’Sullivan grabbed a share of two of snooker’s great records as he landed his sixth Betway UK Championship title in stunning fashion.

The 42-year-old crushed 2008 champion Shaun Murphy’s hopes of a second success at the tournament as he pulled away in the evening to clinch a 10-5 victory at the York Barbican.

O’Sullivan racked up breaks of 75, 104, 76, 103, 86 and 59 in a session where he produced a performance of the highest quality, swiftly and majestically tying up victory and pocketing the £170,000 top prize.

In triumphing for a sixth time, he matched Steve Davis for the most triumphs at this event. And O’Sullivan also hauled himself level with Stephen Hendry’s all-time record haul of 18 titles at the sport’s Triple Crown majors, which are made up of the UK Championship, World Championship and Masters.

There is no sign of the Rocket slowing down, unlike Hendry and Davis who by this stage in their careers had entered a steep decline.

And there is little doubt the man who first landed the UK title as a 17-year-old in 1993 could claim both records outright and others to boot before his career winds down. That is despite hinting he could sit out next year’s UK Championship in favour of a stint in the I’m A Celebrity jungle.

O’Sullivan said of his latest big-stage victory: “The records are great. I just love playing and love competing and I can’t believe I’m still playing at 42, with all these grey hairs.”