SHEFFIELD, England (AFP) - Ronnie O'Sullivan goes into Monday's evening session at the world snooker championships final with a 16-8 lead over Ali Carter and just two frames away from winning his third title.
The 'Rocket' had taken a secure hold on the 2008 final, establishing an 11-5 lead over his former training partner by the end of play Sunday.
And while some way short of the superlative form he produced in brushing aside seven-time champion Stephen Hendry 17-6 in the semi-finals O'Sullivan kept the momentum going with a little help from a cluster of missed opportunities by Carter.
The 32-year-old had breaks of 52 and 45 to stretch his lead to 13-5 and while Carter staged a brief fightback with breaks of 84 and 71 O'Sullivan wound up the afternoon session with an eight-frame lead.
Victory for O'Sullivan would make him only the fourth player to complete snooker's most coveted treble of winning the UK Championship, the world title plus clinching the number one spot in the rankings in the same season.
The trio who have already achieved that feat are Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams.
Carter meanwhile will be disappointed to have failed to make the most of several decent opportunities which have come his way.
It looked like a match too far for the 28-year-old, who appeared to have little left in his tank to mount any sort of comeback at the end of a gruelling fortnight.
But he can take consolation from collecting more than 200,000 pounds for his efforts - 125,000 for finishing runner-up and 78,500 for sharing the highest break prize of 157,000 with O'Sullivan after both notched 147s.
O'Sullivan started the third session at staggering odds of 1-200 to polish off 28-year-old Carter, who is appearing in his first ever ranking final.
Carter was first amongst the balls in frame 17 with a run of 40 but then he missed a red into the middle and O'Sullivan cleared up with a 52.
Carter, rated 20-1 at the start of the day to win the title, failed to pot a ball in the next as breaks of 45 and 29 proved sufficient for O'Sullivan to move 13-5 ahead.
At last Carter had something to smile about in the next with the aid of a break of 46.
But he jawed a red in the final session before the interval and O'Sullivan cashed in with a 71 to leave his opponent needing snookers.
O'Sullivan left a long red over the blue pocket when the players returned to the table and for once Carter made him pay fully with an accomplished 84.
An opening run of 39 set O'Sullivan on the way to winning the next but Carter at least could not be accused of throwing in the towel and he retaliated with 71 in frame 23.
A typically scrappy final frame went in O'Sullivan's favour - and the poor standard could be highlighted by the fact there were only four 50-plus breaks during the session.
