Flawless O’Sullivan on trail of more records

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 tying up victory and pocketing the £170,000 top prize.

In triumphing for a sixth time, he matched Steve Davis for the most wins 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 – 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.

O’Sullivan said of his latest bigstage victory: “The records are great. To equal it... I tried my best all week and there’s nothing left.

“I’m over the moon to win any tournament, let alone the UK Championship.

“I just love playing and love competing and I can’t believe I’m still playing at 42, with all these grey hairs.”

Murphy had high hopes heading into the evening, after pulling back from 4-2 to 4-4 by the end of the afternoon session, and having beaten O’Sullivan over best-of-19 in the recent Champion of Champions tournament.

But despite making an 80 to level at 5-5, he was reduced to the role of spectator for agonisingly long stretches.

Murphy missed the seventh black in a 147 maximum break attempt in the 14th frame, and O’Sullivan made his 86.

There was no stopping O’Sullivan, who finished the match with a break of 49.