O'Sullivan sets up Liang clash in Singapore

World number one Ronnie O'Sullivan powered into the final of the Roewe Shanghai Masters with a crushing 6-1 win over world champion John Higgins this afternoon.

O'Sullivan will now play home favourite Liang Wenbo after the Chinese qualifier overcame Shaun Murphy 6-5 in a scrappy encounter earlier in the day.

O'Sullivan raced into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 73, 53 and 81 along the way - the latter being a maximum 147 chance in frame four until the 11th black stayed out.

Higgins finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth frame but was out of sorts throughout and allowed his rival a comfortable passage through.

O'Sullivan was pleased with his performance but felt he did not match the standards he set in his quarter-final win yesterday.

He said: "I played well in spells, not as well as I did against Ding Junhui.

"I'm feeling more confident and relaxed as the week goes on, finding some rhythm and enjoying the match situation."

Liang was aided in his progress by a below-par display from Murphy, who had cruised into the last four losing just one frame all week.

After starting well and opening up a 2-0 lead with a 102 break in the second frame, Liang was then pegged back to 2-2 and the pair traded error-riddled frames.

Liang eventually came through in a nervy decider but Murphy warned him he will need to curb his gung-ho tendencies to prevail in the final.

Murphy said: "He will need to play better to win the tournament and stop playing silly shots.

"That's what happens in sport, I had three matches playing very near to my best.

"This is the semi-final, which is very important and I didn't play my best - I don't know why.

"If he plays like he played against me today he will lose, but he is capable of winning if he pots more balls and plays better safety."

O'Sullivan is expecting a difficult contest against a player who will enjoy good home support.

He said: "I'm just going to try to execute my shots tomorrow, stay competitive and hope for a good match.

"It's fantastic for Liang Wenbo to get to the final and it's not going to be easy.

"I'm not surprised he's in the final because he's a top player, he's been around for a while and it's only a matter of time before he wins a tournament."

Higgins admitted he had been way below his best against O'Sullivan but feels Liang could have his work cut out in the final.

The Scot said: "I had a bad day, I don't know why. It's just one of those things, everybody has a bad day.

"It's great for the Chinese people for Liang to come through and there'll be a lot of people rooting for him.

"He'll have to play very well, I'm sure Ronnie won't play as badly as he did tonight, he'll play better in the final. He usually does."