Ronnie O’Sullivan clinched his sixth title at the Snooker World Championship by beating the first-time finalist Kyren Wilson 18-8 at Crucible in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan, 44, reached Sunday’s final for the first time since 2014 after coming from behind to edge three-time world champion Mark Selby 17-16 in the semi-finals, reports Xinhua news agency.
He met almost no challenge from world number eight Wilson, who had ousted defending champion and world number one Judd Trump in the quarterfinals, winning the last eight frames in a row to conclude the final.
“I was happy to get one world title at one stage,” O’Sullivan told the World Snooker Tour website. “Once I got to four I knew I could call myself one of the greats because that’s how many times John Higgins had won it. Anything above that and you are in fantastic company.”
O’Sullivan is only one title away from the record of seven held by Stephen Hendry, but he has already set the new record of 37 ranking titles, one ahead of Hendry.
O’Sullivan defeated China’s top player Ding Junhui 13-10 to book a quarter-final berth before he came from 8-4 down to defeat Mark Williams 13-10.
In the first round, O’Sullivan recorded the fastest win in World Championship history by taking just 108 minutes to sweep Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-1.
