Neil Robertson beats Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach snooker Masters final

Neil Robertson

London, Jan 18 (IANS)

Neil Robertson knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan in the snooker Masters with a stunning 6-1 victory in the semi-finals here. The world No. 1 Australian, the 2012 Masters winner, will Sunday fight for the championship against Shaun Murphy, who beat Mark Allen 6-2 in the other semi-final Saturday, reported Xinhua.

Robertson put up a superb display against five-time Masters winner O'Sullivan, who suffered his first ever defeat in a Masters semi-final after ten previous wins in this particular stage.

"Beating Ronnie here is a really special achievement for me," said the 32-year-old Robertson.

"It was an amazing atmosphere. That's why I wanted to have a crack at him in the World Championship final last year, because he's the only player who can create that kind of atmosphere."

O'Sullivan said: "Neil played a great game and had me in lots of trouble. I missed a lot of balls and made a lot of mistakes. I'm not the player I was 18 months ago, but I think I can get it back by playing in more tournaments."

Murphy fought back from two frames down to claim six in a row.

The final will be on a best-of-19 frame format, with the winner to collect the trophy and 200,000 pounds.