Ronnie O'Sullivan wins sixth UK Championship title
Ronnie O'Sullivan moved through the gears to beat Shaun Murphy 10-5 in the final of snooker's Betway UK Championship, matching Steve Davis' all-time record of six wins in the event.
Murphy took the first frame of a high-class final and performed wonders to share the spoils in the opening session, having been 2-1 and 4-2 down.
But while he would level once again at 5-5, from there it was all O'Sullivan as the 42-year-old powered away for a 10-5 victory.
O'Sullivan racked up breaks of 75, 104, 76, 103, 86 and 59 in a session where he produced a performance of the highest quality, swiftly and majestically tying up victory and pocketing the £170,000 top prize.
This was O'Sullivan's sixth UK Championship title, 24 years on from his first, where he saw off Stephen Hendry 10-6 in the final. Only once, in 2016, has he made the final of the event and failed to win.
O'Sullivan also hauled himself level with Hendry's all-time record haul of 18 titles at the sport's Triple Crown majors, which are made up of the UK Championship, World Championship and Masters.
There is no sign of the Rocket slowing down, unlike Hendry and Davis who by this stage in their careers had entered a steep decline.
And there is little doubt the man who first landed the UK title as a 17-year-old could claim both records outright and others to boot before his career winds down, despite hinting he could sit out next year's UK Championship in favour of a stint in the I'm A Celebrity jungle.
O'Sullivan said of his latest big-stage victory: "The records are great. I tried my best all week and there's nothing left.
"I'm over the moon to win any tournament, let alone the UK Championship.
"I just love playing and love competing and I can't believe I'm still playing at 42, with all these grey hairs.
"Maybe snooker's becoming an old man's game now, you just don't know. It was a young man's game in the nineties and 2000s, but now a lot of older players are doing all right."
"He's the greatest..."
Murphy praised O'Sullivan for taking his sixth UK title, saying: "It's an absolute phenomenal achievement. He's the greatest player we've ever seen.
"I think in the modern era where the standard is vastly better than it was in the eighties or nineties, to still be competing and winning majors is a massive, massive feather in his cap.
"Ronnie can go on for as long as he wants. He's the fittest player around, he's the most talented. There's nothing to stop him."
Murphy had high hopes heading into the evening, after pulling back from 4-2 to 4-4 by the end of the afternoon session, and having beaten O'Sullivan over best-of-19 in the recent Champion of Champions tournament.
But despite making an 80 to level at 5-5, he was reduced to the role of spectator for agonisingly long stretches.
Murphy missed the seventh black in a 147 maximum break attempt in the 14th frame, and O'Sullivan made 86, each ball dropping into the pocket a dagger to the heart of his opponent.
O'Sullivan 4/1 for quickfire double
Sky Bet have boosted the odds of O'Sullivan adding the Scottish Open title to 4/1 from 3/1 ahead of Monday's start.
O'Sullivan is drawn against Michael Georgiou in round one with their match scheduled for Tuesday. Should he make it all the way to the final of an event he's won twice before, Murphy could again lie in wait.
Looking further ahead, O'Sullivan can be backed at a boosted 5/1 for the World Championship where he's second-favourite to Mark Selby, but he's is a warm 11/4 jolly for The Masters.