O’Sullivan digs deep to fend off stern Wilson test and reach final

Ronnie O’Sullivan got the better of Gary Wilson 10-7 after a protracted tussle to book his place in the final of the Tour Championship.

O’Sullivan was asked a series of serious questions, and he found the answers at the business end in Manchester as he booked his place in a 64th ranking final.

Wilson won the final two frames of the afternoon session, seemingly fired by a controversial call of a foul by referee Paul Collier in the sixth frame.

The interval seemed to come at a good time for O’Sullivan as he looked sharp at the start of the evening and was well set on 40 in the opening frame only to suffer a horrible kick – which he greeted with an exhale of breath.

Wilson produced a fluent 60 in response and tellingly played an excellent safety after failing to drop on the final red. The safety drew an error from O’Sullivan, and Wilson stepped in and cleared to move back in front for the first time since the third frame.

O’Sullivan looked rattled by the kick he suffered in the opening frame of the session as his play became ragged and his body-language a little negative. But he benefited from two outrageous flukes of reds into the green pocket and it helped him take the 10th to draw level.

There was further controversy involving referee Collier in the 11th as he called O’Sullivan for a push shot when potting a blue. The world No. 1 did not look impressed by the decision but returned to his seat without questioning it. To his immense credit, Wilson questioned the call and asked Collier to review the footage, but the official stood firm.

Wilson looked well set to take the frame, but broke down and played a slack safety. The table was not pretty, but O’Sullivan produced one of the finest 54 breaks of his career as he released balls from difficult positions and was able to get over the line and move back in front.

The underdog responded with a run of 54 in the 12th but ran out of position and failed with a difficult double. As in the previous frame, O’Sullivan inherited a tough table but he knocked in a superb long red to the green pocket and raced through a break of 57 to open up a two-frame lead at 7-5 going into the final interval.

Wilkson refused to wilt and made two solid contributions of 47 and 84 in the 13th to cut his deficit to one frame.

O’Sullivan got in first in the 14th but missed a tough red to right middle when on a run of 35. He was unfortunate to see the red hit the top jaw and come back and disturb a cluster of reds to hand Wilson a starter. Wilson accepted the invitation and a break of 96 drew him level.

O’Sullivan built a 42-point lead in the 15th and then played a safety of the highest order, trapping Wilson behind the green near the baulk cushion.

Wilson made the escape but left his opponent an opening and he knocked in the balls required to edge back in front.

Wilson went blow for blow with the seven-time world champion, matching him in all departments, but he threw in a poor shot at the start of the 16th when wildly missing a red by a distance to hand an opening to O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan produced some of his most-fluent play of the match as a break of 97 took him within one frame of the final.

With the winning line in sight and on the back of a run of 97, O’Sullivan found a superb long-distance red in the 17th.

It set him up for a total clearance of 127 which secured victory to put him one win away from a second Tour Championship title, five years on from winning the inaugural event in 2019.