RONNIE O’Sullivan has qualified for his eighth consecutive Premier League final after beating Mark Williams 5-2 at Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton-on-Sea.
O’Sullivan, who has won all but one of his eight successive Premier League finals, will face Ding Junhui, who earlier in the evening beat Judd Trump 5-3.
Williams came into the match having failed to beat O’Sullivan in a major tournament for more than a decade, but he made a good start as he took an uneventful opening frame which saw both players struggle to settle.
O’Sullivan levelled the match with a 46 in the next, and fully hit his stride in frame three with a break of 109.
Williams, who has struggled to find form in recent months, came into the match having after a horrendous couple of weeks that saw his ability to play snooker severely hampered due to an ankle injury sustained in a football match. However, he dug deep to level the scores at 2-2.
Breaks of 55 and 36 left O’Sullivan needing to win just one of the next three frames to book his place in the final, and although Williams was sometimes unlucky with the run of the game, he failed to take his chances and ‘The Rocket’ completed his victory with runs of 84 and 88.
After the match, O’Sullivan seemed content with his overall performance. He said: “Mark won the first easily and had a good chance to win the second but really, he let me off the hook.
“It was always a tough match and I have the utmost respect for Mark. No match is ever safe and you just have to do the best you can.
“I felt a bit flustered at the beginning and never settled but overall I’m pleased with the performance and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Earlier in the evening, Ding Junhui booked his place in the final with a 5-3 victory over Judd Trump.
The match got off to a lacklustre start, with Ding’s opening break ending on 42 when he missed a tricky red going into the pack. Trump looked set to steal the frame but played a poor positional shot on 28, which allowed Ding back in to clear up.
Trump levelled the scores in a scrappy second frame with a break of 30, but he upped his game in the next to take the lead with a run of 58.
Ding struck back in the next with a break of 59, but neither player was playing to their potential in what was an often nervous encounter.
The standard was raised in frame five as Ding made a classy 139 total clearance to take a 3-2 lead, but this was to be the high point of the match as both players reverted to the earlier nervousness in the next.
Trump took advantage of an easy red but he broke down on 45 when he missed another into the centre pocket, but Ding could only manage 34. However, Trump failed to make anything of several chances to clinch the frame, and Ding eventually punished him with a run of 34.
The ‘Chinese Sensation’ was now 4-2 up and firmly in control of the match, but Trump won the next and appeared to be in with a fighting chance, but he was unable to sustain it in frame eight when he missed a red with the rest on 25. Ding took full advantage and his break of 75 put him into Sunday night’s final.
Semi Final 1: Ding Junhui 5-3 Judd Trump
89-37 (Ding 42, 47), 28-53 (Trump 30), 15-74 (Trump 58), 68 – 17 (Ding 59), 139 – 0 (Ding 139), 69-58 (Trump 45, Ding 34), 14-70 (Trump 43), 75-25 (Ding 75)
Semi Final 2: Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Mark Williams
0-66 (Williams 43), 70-33 (Williams 32, O’Sullivan 46), 109-3 (O’Sullivan 109), 34-59 (Williams 35), 96-0 (O’Sullivan 55 & 36), 85-0 (O’Sullivan 84) 92-9 (O’Sullivan 88)