May 05 2008
O’Sullivan Clinches Third World Title
In a disappointingly short final session at the Crucible this evening, Ronnie O’Sullivan took the World Title in two very short and uninteresting frames. It was a sad end to a tournament that saw some incredible Snooker from both O’Sullivan and his opponent, Ali Carter, who was his first World Championship final.
Making Snooker history, both players in the final managed to chalk up two 147 maximum breaks between them across the last few weeks. It was then fitting, perhaps, to see both make the final. Ronnie, playing some of the greatest snooker of his life, lacked any of his moody temperament and kept his cool to see off Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams (who has dropped out of the top 16 for the first time since the 1996/1997 season) into the final. Ali Carter had no easy journey either, seeing off Joe Perry, Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy in the final stages.
In the end, O’Sullivan had a comfortable 18-8 win over Carter and not even the streaker at the start of the final session could put him off his stride.