Ronnie O’Sullivan took a commanding 12-5 overnight lead over Judd Trump into the World Championship final on Sunday.
The world number one took control of an entertaining first day, during which he accused referee Olivier Marteel of “looking for trouble”, for which he received a formal warning.
O’Sullivan did offer a fist-bump to Marteel at the start of the evening session, in which Trump delivered an opening half-century to claim his third frame in a row and narrow the deficit to 5-4.
But O’Sullivan responded with a break of 66 in the next to re-establish his two-frame lead, then ruthlessly punished two consecutive mistakes by Trump, who was evidently beginning to struggle.
Having put himself in a strong position, Trump missed a simple black in the 11th frame and O’Sullivan stepped up for a break of 118, his third century of the match.
And after another similar missed black by Trump in the next frame, O’Sullivan once again proved ruthless, a 97 clearance taking him 8-4 in front at the mid-session interval.
Trump’s difficult evening continued with two shocking misses in the 13th frame giving O’Sullivan the two chances he needed to cruise further ahead at 9-4.
The 32-year-old was struggling to find any kind of consistency, and a missed pink to the middle in the next frame let in O’Sullivan for a break of 87 to seal his fifth frame in a row.
Trump did rally with a break of 80 in the next, but was once again punished in the next when a missed brown let in O’Sullivan to deliver an 87 clearance and claim a 12-5 overnight lead.
