RONNIE O’Sullivan has beaten Shaun Murphy 3-1 to win the final Premier League mini-tournament and finish top of the table.

Murphy arrived in Grimsby knowing he needed to win both his matches and hope O’Sullivan lost by two frames in his semi-final against Jimmy White if he was to keep alive his slender ambitions of qualifying for the semi-finals.

The 2005 world champion began the evening by whitewashing Judd Trump 3-0 in just 31 minutes, but he was powerless as he watched O’Sullivan beat White by the same scoreline.

However, the final still carried some importance with Murphy looking to finish as high up the table as possible for increased financial reward, while O’Sullivan was looking to bounce back from a final frame defeat in last Sunday’s PTC 9 final in Antwerp.

O’Sullivan began strongly and a break of 82 gave him the first frame, which also secured him top spot in the final league table, and he followed this up with a 78 to lead 2-0 with a maximum of three to play.

Murphy managed to claw one back with runs of 52 and 31 before O’Sullivan rounded off his victory with a century.

O’Sullivan, who has won six of the last seven Premier League campaigns, now faces Mark Williams in the semi-finals, while Ding Junhui takes on Judd Trump.

After the match, O’Sullivan appeared content with his form. He said: “It’s always nice to reach the play-offs and I seem to have a good track record in them over the years.

“Mark is a tough player of course and he is back at the top of his game so nothing will be easy at Potters. I’m playing well though and enjoying my snooker so I’m looking forward to it.”