Ronnie O’Sullivan claims he has never known a Crucible campaign so gruelling but a fourth world title should be his reward tomorrow for lasting the pace.

Ronnie O’Sullivan hit a streak of devastating form to surge ahead of Ali Carter in the Betfred.com World Championship final.

Ronnie O’Sullivan was a cut above Peter Ebdon as he raced through to the second round of the Betfred.com World Championship today

Ronnie O’Sullivan turned the most keenly-anticipated first-round match at the Betfred.com World Championship into a procession as he surged 7-2 ahead of Peter Ebdon.

Ronnie O’Sullivan will tackle his Crucible nemesis Peter Ebdon in the first round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

JOHN HIGGINS claimed Shaun Murphy was in the form of his life after the world number one was knocked out of the China Open at the quarter-final stage yesterday.

World number one John Higgins was knocked out of the China Open at the quarter-final stage this morning, falling to former world champion Shaun Murphy.

World champion Neil Robertson bowed out of the China Open to continue his poor run in the country.

Ronnie O'Sullivan's miserable run continued today as he was eliminated from the Bank of Beijing China Open at the first-round stage.

John Higgins battled past Nigel Bond today to seal his place in the second round of the Bank of Beijing China Open.

Ronnie O’Sullivan moved comfortably into the final of the 12bet.com World Open after a 3-1 semi-final win over Peter Ebdon.

Dave Harold stunned Shaun Murphy by beating the former world champion 3-0 to progress to the last 32 of the World Open in Glasgow.

Peter Ebdon believes he can stun world champion Neil Robertson at the Shanghai Masters – six weeks after playing down his chances of even qualifying for the tournament.

Barry Hearn has vowed to spruce up snooker after the players voted him into power on a historic day for the sport.

Neil Robertson avoided a sticky end to his Betfred.com World Championship campaign but admitted knocking out Fergal O'Brien was as tough as extracting chewing gum from a carpet.

NEIL ROBERTSON avoided a sticky end to his Betfred.com World Championship campaign but admitted knocking out Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien was as tough as extracting chewing gum from a carpet.

Ryan Day became the third seeded player to crash out in the first round at the Betfred.com World Championship as Mark Davis followed namesake Steve into the last 16.

Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen recovered from 4-2 down to beat Stephen Hendry 5-4 in the quarter-finals of the China Open in Beijing today.

Peter Ebdon and Stephen Hendry were among the players to book their places in the second round of the Sanyuan Foods China Open today.

PETER EBDON will return to the scene of a victory he rates above his world title triumph when he defends his Sanyuan Foods China Open crown in Beijing next week.

Jimmy White described his performance in the 6-2 defeat by Mark King as “sickening” after he went out in the first round of the Masters at Wembley.

World champion John Higgins saw off a resilient Neil Robertson and world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan eased past Peter Ebdon as both men booked their place in the last eight of the UK Championship.

Former world champion Peter Ebdon admits he has a tough draw to negotiate if he is to land the Pukka-Pies UK Championship crown for a second time.

Mark King and Stephen Maguire set a new Crucible record for slow play as their second-round match began this afternoon.

Australian Neil Robertson claims the Betfred.com World Championship is “more open than ever” this year.

Nigel Bond is happy just to be playing more snooker after he made it into the second round of the Betfred.com World Championships with a shock 10-5 win over Peter Ebdon last night.

The all-Chinese encounter in the first round of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship did not disappoint its record-breaking audience after Ding Junhui came through a thrilling contest to beat Liang Wenbo.

John Higgins will meet Peter Ebdon in the final of the Bank of Beijing China Open after a thrilling 6-4 semi-final victory over Ryan Day.

Peter Ebdon thrashed Stuart Pettman 6-1 to ease into the final of the Bank of Beijing China Open.

John Higgins reached the last four of the Bank of Beijing China Open this afternoon after coming through a scrappy quarter-final encounter with world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Stuart Pettman continued his superb run in the China Open this morning, causing another upset by overcoming Graeme Dott to make his first ranking tournament semi-final.

Ali Carter whitewashed Peter Ebdon 6-0 tonight to book a quarter-final meeting with Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Masters at Wembley.

Former world champions Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon were among four seeded casualties in the first round of the Shanghai Masters during early action today.

Ronnie O’Sullivan shrugged off seeing his £157,000 bonus cut in half to charge towards a place in the 888.com World Championship semi-finals in Sheffield today.

Snooker’s maximum men will today share the Crucible stage in a bid to reach the 888.com World Championship semi-finals in Sheffield.

ALI CARTER admitted he was “shaking like a leaf” after creating snooker history by firing a 147 break at the 888.com World Championship — the first time two maximums have been scored in the same tournament.

Ali Carter tonight created snooker history by firing a 147 break at the 888.com World Championship - the first time two maximums have been scored in the same tournament.

Stephen Hendry today threatened to record the second 147 maximum break in two days as he raced into a 7-1 lead over Ryan Day at the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield.

Stephen Hendry today threatened to make it two 147 maximum breaks in two days in the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield.

PETER EBDON last night became the first player into the quarter-finals of the 888.com World Championship with victory over Mark King in Sheffield.

Peter Ebdon tonight became the first player into the quarter-finals of the 888.com World Championship with victory over Mark King in Sheffield.

John Higgins today showed he was feeling the pressure of trying to retain his 888.com World Championship after squandering a promising position against Wales’ Ryan Day.

Anthony Hamilton today tipped Stephen Maguire to lift his first 888.com World Championship after falling victim to the in-form Scot for the second year in succession.

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN proved too strong for qualifier Liu Chuang at the World Championship in Sheffield yesterday — and then admitted he has struggled to cope with the furore surrounding lewd comments and sexual innuendos he made at a news conference in China.