Ronnie O’Sullivan blasts past John Higgins 4-0 into World Masters of Snooker semi-finals

World Masters of Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan hit three centuries in 4-0 win vs John Higgins; Mark Allen came from 3-1 down to beat Mark Selby 4-3; Luca Brecel beat Ali Carter 4-1; Judd Trump came from 2-0 down to beat Shaun Murphy 4-3; Brecel to meet Allen, while O’Sullivan will face Trump

Ronnie O’Sullivan blasted past John Higgins 4-0 to make the World Masters of Snooker semi-finals

Ronnie O’Sullivan is through to the semi-finals of the World Masters of Snooker in Saudi Arabia after a 4-0 demolition of John Higgins. 

The victory saw the Rocket put in an extraordinary performance, rattling off three century breaks in succession with Higgins unable to pot a single ball in the contest.

O’Sullivan won the opening frame with a terrific break of 135, before backing it up with another century break of 129 in double-quick time.

A longer third frame was eventually closed out with a third consecutive century.

Elsewhere, there was final-frame drama as Mark Allen completed a remarkable come-from-behind victory over Mark Selby in the quarter-finals.

Allen took the decider by doubling the black as he came back from 3-1 down, with Selby appearing to cruise through the opening frames.

With a two-frame cushion, Selby had taken a 54-point lead in the fifth, but a miss allowed Allen to step up with a clearance of 65. And it was a similar story in the sixth as a missed black allowed Allen to come from behind to level it.

A tense deciding frame was full of mistakes and fouls as Allen again came from behind, helped by a fluke green before his stunning winning shot.

“I actually thought the white was going to drop in,” he said on Eurosport. “It was such an easy shot to flick off the black, but I thought, ‘no, I’m going for it’. As long as I got a really good white, I’d be alright.”

Ali Carter cut a frustrated figure after losing his quarter-final 4-1 to world champion Luca Brecel.

Carter had looked on course to level the match at 2-2 but his night unravelled after a late missed brown which he blamed on a scoreboard mistake.

“I’m clearing up, I want to get on with it and the scorer’s got the score wrong,” he said. “I’ve stunned up the table, thinking I can play anything I want.

“I look at the scoreboard and now all of a sudden I’m thinking, ‘have I miscalculated?’ It’s just completely put me out of my rhythm.

“I thought I’ve got to pot the brown to be able to draw. I don’t know how it worked out but I’m looking at the blue and all of a sudden the ref said I’m on 41 and I’m 22 behind or something. It just completely threw me.”

Carter was also unhappy with the four-hour wait for his match to start after Selby and Allen went long.

Judd Trump came from behind to beat an unlucky Shaun Murphy 4-3. Murphy had opened up with breaks of 126 and 105 to storm into a 2-0 lead but Trump came through a tricky third frame before levelling it with a break of 75 in the fourth.

Murphy nosed back in front and appeared to be heading for the final four as he took a big lead in the sixth frame, only to clip a red and allow Trump a way back in – one that he duly took with break of 69 before he bossed the final frame.