RONNIE O'SULLIVAN took command of his 888.com World Championship semi-final with Stephen Hendry as he completed a pre-interval whitewash at the Crucible Theatre.
The "Rocket" won the opening four frames of the second session in the best-of-33 encounter to open up an 8-4 lead against the out-of-sorts Hendry.
The signs were looking ominous for the Scot, who admitted that O'Sullivan is the best front-runn
er in the game.
The 32-year-old was cueing beautifully as he took his winning sequence of frames in the match to seven. But Hendry had his chances and could conceivably have won three of the four frames, only to break down in promising positions and be punished by the ruthless O'Sullivan.
The tone was set in the opening frame of the day when Hendry missed a red which he left over a corner pocket and O'Sullivan cashed in with a 93 break to take the lead for the first time.
Hendry was again first among the balls in the next with a 53 and then O'Sullivan responded with a 44 before missing the final blue – but managed to snooker his opponent behind the pink.
The seven-times champion tried to pot the blue via a cushion but failed to make contact and, with the ball hanging over the pocket, O'Sullivan cleared up.
It was a similar scenario in the next with Hendry putting together a 35 and O'Sullivan replying with 57 before laying a snooker on the final red.
Hendry escaped at the second attempt but the red was left close to a black pocket and O'Sullivan again took advantage.
The final frame before the interval was more clear-cut with O'Sullivan's 87 break settling the issue after a superb long red had set him on his way.
Joe Perry is looking to build on his two-frame lead when his semi-final with Ali Carter resumes this afternoon. The Cambridgeshire potter took advantage of a below-par performance from Carter, who would have been relatively happy to be trailing only 5-3.
Perry had been in action until close to midnight on Wednesday before closing out a dramatic 13-12 win over a shell-shocked Stephen Maguire in the quarter-finals. But the 33-year-old world No.18 showed no visible effects of his marathon match and appeared slightly less nervous in a tense session between two players making their first last-four appearance in snooker's premier tournament.
The full article contains 421 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
