Ronnie O'Sullivan is the 2016 dafabet Masters champion,taking the title with a straight forward 10-1 victory over Barry Hawkins.
This title will have all the more significance for Ronnie,because it draws him level with Hendry on six Masters wins.He will surely now fancy his chances of beating that record in the years to come and who's to say he wont such was his dominance here today.
The match itself began with a lengthy first frame that went the way of Hawkins,but that was to be as good as it got for the left hander playing in his first Masters final,as Ronnie found his scoring boots to lead 3-1 at the interval.
Things went from bad to worse for Hawkins when they resumed, as Ronnie,without really been put under any pressure started to pull away at his ease to finish the afternoon leading 7-1.
This one was now as good as over and any slim chance Hawkins may have had of mounting a comeback quickly faded when a fluked pink eventually gave Ronnie the first of the night.That made it 8-1 and the end was to come soon enough as Ronnie got the two frames he needed for an easy 10-1 win.
It was hard not to feel a little sympathy for Hawkins who has played superbly all week,but maybe we just saw evidence here again as to why he has never made that big leap that he undoubtedly has the talent to make. It just seems his Achilles heal is an inability to follow up one big win with another.
As for Ronnie,well what can you say.This is of course not the first time he has claimed a big title after a long lay off,but that should in no way take away from the achievement. His touch here this week was at times not what we've come to expect,but what was consistent in all his matches was his application and this,along with a long game that was as good as its ever been,set him apart from the rest.
Looking back on the tournament as a whole,we have been treated to a week of high quality snooker.with some real fine matches.The venue once again showed itself to be perfect for snooker,but judging by how annoying the odd shouts from the crowd were,we can forever put to bed any idea of a "darts atmosphere" been needed for snooker!
The one slightly worrying thing again,was like at the final stages of the worlds,the pockets seemed to be a little on the generous side and although this helped promote high scoring matches,I'm not sure the sport is best served by it.
Thats a debate for another day though,so for now lets salute our champion.He may not be the world champion or the no.1 in the rankings,but does anyone really think he's not the greatest?
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