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 standard, swiftly and majestically tying up victory and pocketing the £170,000 top prize.
In triumphing once again, 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.
Murphy hailed O’Sullivan as “the greatest”.
And there is little doubt the man who first landed the UK title as a 17-year-old in 1993 could claim a host of records outright 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 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.
“Maybe snooker’s becoming an old man’s game now, you just don’t know. It was a young man’s game in the nineties and 2000s, but now a lot of older players are doing all right.”
Murphy praised O’Sullivan for taking his sixth UK title, saying: “It’s an absolutely phenomenal achievement.
“He’s the greatest player we’ve ever seen.
“I think in the modern era where the standard is vastly better than it was in the eighties or nineties, to still be competing and winning majors is a massive, massive feather in his cap.
“Ronnie can go on for as long as he wants. He’s the fittest player around, he’s the most talented. There’s nothing to stop him.”
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 86, each ball dropping into the pocket a dagger to the heart of his opponent.
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