SHEFFIELD (AFP) - Ronnie O'Sullivan looked set to lift snooker's most prestigious trophy for the third time on Monday at the World Snooker Championship final in Sheffield.
Although O'Sullivan may not have quite lived up to his 'Rocket' nickname, he still did enough to lead 11-5 after the first two sessions of the world snooker final against Ali Carter on Sunday.
O'Sullivan, twice the world champion, was priced an odds-on 1/8 favourite to triumph at the Crucible Theatre after thrashing seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry 17-6 in the semi-finals with a session to spare.
By contrast Carter was appearing in the first major final of his 12-year career and came into this all-English contest knowing he'd lost all eight of his previous professional meetings with former practice partner O'Sullivan.
Carter, who beat Joe Perry 17-15 in a tense, error-strewn semi-final, should have won the opening frame of this best of 35 contest but broke down on a break of 24 when he jumped the cue ball over a red as he tried to pot a black.
Then, after a contribution of 24, the 28-year-old unluckily sent a red in while potting a blue. O'Sullivan made 38, played safe and then a long red paved the way for a frame-clinching break of 30.
Breaks of 39 and 88 gave O'Sullivan the second frame and, after Carter missed a long red, a break of 99 put the 'Rocket' 3-0 ahead
Carter pulled one back before the interval with the first century of the match, his break of 104 the 62nd hundred of the tournament.
O'Sullivan is widely regarded as the most gifted player of his generation. But this past fortnight he has been a showing a mental toughness not always associated with his game.
In particular his safety play has been as much a feature as his break-building and it was such a shot that led to an error and a break of 74 from O'Sullivan, who now had a three-frame lead.
Carter reduced his arrears to 4-2 after O'Sullivan snookered himself on the final red and gave away 22 points in foul shots before escaping.
O'Sullivan took a scrappy seventh frame and an initial break of 47 helped him into a healthy lead ahead of Sunday's evening session where Carter staged a rally before O'Sullivan surged clear, rounding off the evening in style with a 110 break to leave him seven frames away from a third title.
