O'Sullivan back with a bang

Ronnie O’Sullivan thrashed Stephen Hendry 5-0 in the Premier League semi-finals tonight – nine days after questioning his future in snooker.

The world number one was in solid form at the Manchester International Convention Centre, despite insisting prior to the match that his threat to take a year out of the game after this season remained serious.

While Hendry went from bad to worse, O’Sullivan, who appeared to have lost his appetite for the game during the recent World Championship, appeared far more focused as he reached the 45th final of his career.

“That’s the worst I’ve ever seen Stephen play,” said O’Sullivan.

The Rocket claimed the first whitewash over Hendry since he was blanked 9-0 by little-known Scot Marcus Campbell in the first round of the 1998 UK Championship.

“Stephen missed a lot of balls that really surprised me,” said O’Sullivan.

“He came here from Sheffield where he had a great chance of winning the World Championship and that kind of disappointment is hard to get over quickly.”

Hendry, a six-time winner of the Premier League, unexpectedly toiled as O’Sullivan compiled breaks of 41, 78 and 121 – his 41st century of the season.

In order to capture his fifth title of the campaign and 34th in total, O’Sullivan must now beat Welshman Mark Williams in tomorrow’s best-of-11-frame final.

Williams remained on course to pocket the £50,000 first prize with an equally one-sided 5-0 victory over Hong Kong’s Marco Fu in the other semi-final.