Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Ng On Yee 5-0 at Hong Kong Masters

The Rocket hasn't had much to cheer about so far this season, pulling out of the European Masters because of tennis elbow and then suffering an early defeat at the British Open last week.

However, O'Sullivan was crowned world champion for a seventh time as recently as May and he looked much closer to his old self here in front of a huge crowd, producing a blitz of big breaks to set up a mouthwatering semi-final with Neil Robertson.

In truth, his task was made much easier by his opponent who never settled in one of the biggest matches of her career, O'Sullivan taking advantage in ruthless fashion as he finished the job in under an hour.

An early mistake from On Yee allowed O'Sullivan to strike first with a typically silky run of 72 and the former only managed a solitary point in the next two frames as O'Sullivan piled on the pressure, breaks of 100 and 59 seeing him storm into a 3-0 lead.

That soon became 4-0 when O'Sullivan added a break of 81 to head to the mid-session interval with the match all but sewn up.

On Yee was in first in frame five but when she broke down with her lead standing at only 20 points, O'Sullivan stepped in with a further run of 95 to complete an impressive whitewash and suggest he will take some stopping over the weekend.

Old told World Snooker Tour: "It was nice. Every event in Asia is fantastic. They support it really well and they are major events.

"It was nice to play in front of an enthusiastic crowd. It makes you want to play well and do well for them.

"Every match here is capable of being a final in any tournament. Playing against top quality opposition and knowing you need to be at your best motivates yourself to do well.

"These are special events and you want to play in as many of these as you can.

"It would be great if we could have a massive crowd again tomorrow. Neil is the most consistent player on tour by a mile.

"I play alright in spells, but I’m not as consistent as Neil is. I’m going to have to find some good stuff to have a chance of winning tomorrow."

Robertson too strong for Williams

Robertson booked his place in the semi-finals with a 5-3 victory over Mark Williams.

Williams was a late call-up after Zhao Xintong was ruled out of the tournament when testing positive for Covid-19, and despite producing a valiant effort in defeat the veteran was unable to resist Robertson who made two centuries in a generally polished display.

It was actually Williams who actually struck first blood, showing no side-effects of a long flight by taking the opening frame with a break of 113, though Robertson responded with a hundred break of his own in the very next frame.

When the next two frames were shared there was seemingly very little between the two players, but the Australian finished the stronger, putting together back-to-back frames to move within one of the winning line.

Williams managed to keep his hopes alive with a run of 80 in frame seven, only for Robertson to close the door on a possible comeback by wrapping up victory soon after.

Robertson told World Snooker Tour: "He only arrived a few hours before we were going to play, but to come out and make a 134 first frame was incredible.

"I think later on in the match he started to get a bit tired, but nevertheless he still played a really good game and I think I did my bit as well.

"This is probably similar to a tennis stadium. It is incredible. I’m sure there will be even more here for the semi-finals."

Williams said: "I’m knackered. I had about two hours of sleep in two days. I didn’t arrive into my hotel until about 10:45 and I got picked up at 11:45 to play my match.

"I knew I wasn’t going to win, but I tried my best and somehow I got three frames off him.

"Anyone who follows me on Twitter knew I couldn’t win today, all I came for was the £22,500. I’ve got to be honest, I knew I couldn’t win."