2017 Masters (Day 5) - O'Sullivan books semis place

Alexandra Palace was buzzing with excitement today as the first quarter-final matches took place in a full-packed arena that saw one of the favourites for the title (and defending champion for that matter) Ronnie O'Sullivan beating Neil Robertson 6-3.

Although many would have expected fireworks in the sky regarding these two lads, the match itself wasn't like that at all.

A few mistakes here and there and a playing style at a pace that doesn't correspond to either of the players made this snooker encounter puzzling enough to be watched and intensely devoured.

Robertson was the ice-breaker, a break of 74 giving him the first frame, but O'Sullivan responded with an out-of-the-blue 63 to draw level to which he added a 51 to take the lead.

By the half of the match though, the scoreboard was showing a pretty tight partial result of 2-2.


The Aussie started the second session by knocking in breaks of 59 and 62, but Ronnie was sure to clear the table with a 55 to draw level and add a pretty modest 47 contribution to go in front once more.

Robertson had a few chances in the following frame, but missed a lot (of course the fact that O'Sullivan got lucky in more than one occasion didn't help either), so the reigning Masters champion used breaks of 54 and 68 to close the match at 6-3.

Truth be told the scoreline doesn't say the story of the match, the first to admit that being the winner himself, O'Sullivan although stating that he "felt a lot better after being ill", didn't play at his best and managed to "drag down" his opponent.


Marco Fu continued his tremendous form and beat Mark Allen 6-2 in a outstanding display of high breaks.

Runs 74 and 83 helped Fu conquer the first three frames, while Allen fought back with breaks of 70 and 52 to make the scoreline go 3-2.

Still, his effort proved to be useless as Fu pushed back with 97, 140 and 65 to book his semis place where he will meet O'Sullivan.

Friday match schedule:

1pm
Barry Hawkins v Mark Selby

7pm
Joe Perry v Ding Junhui

*all hours are UK time

Photos credit: World Snooker