O'Sullivan takes second World crown

Ronnie O’Sullivan is champion of the world for the second time after out-classing rank outsider Graeme Dott to win the Embassy crown at the Crucible Theatre.

The Rocket had gone into the final session holding a 16-8 lead – just two frames away from the title – after demolishing Dott 7-1 in the afternoon.

And the action was all over in barely 20 minutes as O’Sullivan began with a 92 break in frame 25 and then made sure of victory with two runs of 33.

The nightmare opening to the final for The Rocket, who lost the first five frames. Was forgotten as he added to his 2001 triumph.

Even the appearance of a male streaker around the table before the final spell of action began did not put off O’Sullivan who has been fully focused throughout the second week of the tournament.

He has given much of the credit for that to the presence of six-times world champion Ray Reardon who has acted as his mentor during the competition.

In addition to the £250,000 first prize, O’Sullivan has also regained the number one spot in the rankings thanks to his semi-final win over Stephen Hendry.

O’Sullivan did not quite match the consistent brilliance of that performance against rank outsider Dott who began the competition at odds of 200-1.

He maintains that the best is still to come from him as he constantly strives to reach perfection – but Dott was made to pay heavily every time he was amongst the balls.

For Dott there was the consolation of a cheque for £125,000 and regaining his place back in the top 16 – something that must have seemed a million miles away when he smashed his cue in frustration in January.

O’Sullivan began the day with the match still in the balance as he was only holding a narrow 9-7 advantage.

But he reeled off a series of impressive breaks to claim seven of the eight frames in the afternoon as Dott failed to repeat his standards of the opening day.

It was all so easy for the 28-year-old from Chigwell as Dott’s safety play was not as tight with his potting game also deserting him.

The early exchanges of the opening frame of the day had been tentative, and there was a bout of safety play lasting nearly 10 minutes before O’Sullivan took advantage of a red hanging over the yellow pocket.

The Rocket compiled 41 before playing safe and another run of 30 was sufficient to seal the frame.

For the first time it looked as if Dott was beginning to run out of steam after his exertions.

He made a hash of an attempted safety shot to let O’Sullivan in for what quickly became a realistic chance for a 147.

O’Sullivan landed the first five reds and blacks and the balls were all in the open but inexplicably he missed a simple red.

Dott was unable to take advantage as he missed the same ball into the opposite black pocket and a 45 from O’Sullivan extended his advantage to 11-7.

But Dott pulled himself together in the next with an excellent break of 106 - the highest break of the match – to show O’Sullivan that he should not be totally written off.

It was only his second ton of the championship compared with the 13 notched up by O’Sullivan.

Dott pulled out a couple of superb long reds in the final frame before the mid-session interval, the second of which started him off on a run of 29.

But then he missed a straightforward black off its spot and O’Sullivan needed no second invitation to clear up with 65 – his seventh 50-plus break of the final.

Dott found it difficult to contain O’Sullivan when the players returned after the interval and an 85 clearance, started with a superb red down the rail, set the tone.

A 62 was sufficient to win frame 22, and runs of 46 and 32 took the next out of the reach of the Dott – and then O’Sullivan completed a post-interval whitewash with a 61.