Ronnie O'Sullivan: Englishman won twice in Berlin on Friday
Ronnie O'Sullivan responded further to the pressure generated by the danger of losing his top-16 ranking by booking his place in the semi-finals of the partypoker.net German Masters on Friday evening.
The 36-year-old three-time world champion was on the brink of losing his place among the game's elite yesterday afternoon when he trailed Andrew Higginson 4-0 in the first round.But, as he has often done during his colourful career, O'Sullivan responded in style, winning five frames in a row to secure his place in today's action, and he did not waste his chance as he beat both Joe Perry and Matthew Stevens.His performance in beating Perry 5-1 on Friday afternoon was evidence of why he remains the biggest draw on the circuit, firing two centuries on his way to securing a last-eight meeting with Stevens.He saw off Stevens 5-3 and, while he was not as his swashbuckling best, he did win four frames in a row to come from 3-1 down to move to within two wins of what would be a first ranking event title for over two years.O'Sullivan will come up against Stephen Lee in Saturday's semi-final after he dumped out reining champion Mark Williams.Like O'Sullivan, Williams was in action on Friday afternoon beating Stuart Bingham 5-2, but he could not replicate the form in the evening session as Lee ran out a 5-3 winner, closing out things with a century.O'Sullivan may well fancy his chances against Lee, and will have been heartened to see current nemesis Judd Trump dumped out by Stephen Maguire.Trump outThe Bristolian beat O'Sullivan at both the UK Championship and the Masters, and looked set to build on his growing reputation as the game's new force when he went 4-2 up, starting off with a break of 111.But Maguire dug in with a gritty 82 and, after Trump failed to make the most of a frame-winning chance in the decider, Maguire cleared to the black to cause a minor shock and win 5-4.He will meet Masters runner-up Shaun Murphy, after he got the better of world number one Mark Selby for the second tournament in a row, winning 5-3.Read more https://www1.skysports.com/snooker/news/12243/7480880/