ROCKET RONNIE IS READY

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN enjoyed a leisurely Saturday after concluding a 17-7 win over Barry Hawkins on Friday night, with a mesmerising four-frame run giving him the day off and sparing him the slated final session.

The five-time winner also beat Shaun Murphy in the quarters with a session left and, short of a secondround tussle with Joe Perry, has cruised to the final.

The 38-year-old is, by his own admission, a part-time player these days, but still continues to wow the Crucible audiences and will be the favourite against either Neil Robertson or Mark Selby when the best- of-35 final starts on Sunday.

‘To have got such a comfortable result against Barry is great for me,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘I hadn’t played for two months going into this tournament so I’d got a bit bored of practising, but that’s because I didn’t enter any tournaments so that’s my own fault. As each match goes on you do feel like you get into it.’

O’Sullivan has never lost a Sheffield final, winning his first in 2001 and then adding to it in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013. The Essex man has previously spoken of the six and seven titles won by snooker greats Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry and, should he continue his perfect record in Crucible finals, he will be level with one of them.

‘I’ve still got one more match to play so I can’t afford to get all excited,’ he added. ‘It’s all about the final for me on Sunday and Monday now. I just want to enjoy my day off and get ready to play in the final of our biggest tournament.

‘I’m just buzzing to be playing and enjoying it. To get to three finals in a row having already won two - if you’d have told me that three years ago it would’ve never entered my thoughts that I could do it.’