O'Sullivan rocks Masters title

00:08:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments



Ronnie O'Sullivan - the 2014 Masters champion
Eight days of intensive cue-crossings concluded tonight when Ronnie O'Sullivan beat defending champion Mark Selby by an excruciating 10-4 scoreline to win the Dafabet 2014 Masters title (the 5th of his career).

Far from the tight and dramatic final that many of us expected, the grand finale still guarded a few tricks and moments of suspense, beside the obvious "unplayable" O'Sullivan who dominated the arena from the very beginning of the match, until the last of the balls was potted.

Breaking the ice with a myriad of runs of 97, 70 and 96, the Rocket was taking off towards a dangerous 3-0 scoreline, before Selby could have an honest to God chance and make a difference.

Frame four revealed a pretty shaky Selby (no wonder since he spent most of his time away from the table), thus blowing away a few valuable chances to go 3-1 down. And so, the mid-session interval was finding the Essex-man fully in-charge of the match's faith, at 4-0.

Mark Selby - the 2014 Masters runner-up
On the same note, as the lads returned into the arena, runs of 37 and 47 were pushing Ronnie even further, at 5-0, leaving Selby devastated.

Still, the defending champion found the strength to fight back and with a break of 36 and a 27 clearance, he managed to clinch his first frame of the day.

Interestingly enough the Gods seemed to stick by his side during the next frame, but when it ended on a re-spotted black and Selby missed the opportunity to close the deal, his prayers proved in vain. It was 6-1.

One more frame went into Ronnie's bag and at 7-1, the first session was concluded. Three more frames needed and the reigning world champion would lift that glassy trophy.

Punch in the air from the winner
The final resumed with the same eager-to-win O'Sullivan, who used a break of 90 to go 8-1 up, just before Selby could show a bit of form and win a dramatic frame which came down to the last black (payback time, one would think!) and grab another one with a break of 67. 

Considering these two wins, one would easily think that it might just be the start of a beautiful comeback, but today Selby was far from the man who dominated Shaun Murphy in the semis, his concentration and determination being, sadly, quite poor.

O'Sullivan won a scrappy 12th frame to go one away from victory (9-3), when Selby pulled another one of his special tricks to prolong the suspense and get a frame into the bag.

Sharing his moment of glory with Lilly and Ronnie Jr
Still, it was a bit too late, as Rocket Ronnie ended the final with a break of 72 for a definitive 10-4 win.

The crowed almost exploded as the newly champion punched the air, soon after being surrounded by his two adorable kids, Lilly and Ronnie Jr at lifting his 5th Masters trophy.

Having said that it’s crystal clear that this has been an almost flawless performance from the man who in three months from now will be defending his world champion crown at the Crucible. And who knows what surprise he has for the snooker fans?!

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