Snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan takes just 58 minutes to book semi-final place at the Masters

The world champion scored 556 points without reply at Alexandra Palace

Ryan Baxter
Friday 17 January 2014 18:39 GMT
Comments
Ronnie O'Sullivan in action
Ronnie O'Sullivan in action (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ronnie O’Sullivan became king of Alexandra Palace this afternoon, defeating Ricky Walden in only 58 minutes to book a semi-final place at the Masters.

O’Sullivan dazzled the London crowd, whitewashing Walden 6-0 and scoring a record 556 points without reply.

Walden only scored 39 points in the entire match, all of which came from his 11 pots in the opening frame. The ‘Rocket’ turned the first frame around with a break of 79.

O’Sullivan’s breaks of 88 in the second frame and 72 in the third stretched his lead to 3-0, before devastating Walden with a break of 134 in the fourth.

Further visits of 77 and 56 secured O’Sullivan’s victory, in a match that the Alexandra Palace crowd would have missed if they had blinked.

"I don't know what I can do this afternoon - I suppose I can go and pick up the kids now," said O'Sullivan.

The world champion will now go on to face either world number one Neil Robertson or Stephen Maguire, in Saturday’s semi-final.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in