World Grand Prix snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan eases into semi-finals after dispatching Gary Wilson with a 5-1 victory

Ronnie O’Sullivan sealed his place in the World Grand Prix semi-finals with a 5-1 win over Gary Wilson.

Despite frequently expressing dissatisfaction with his recent performances, the world No. 1 had few issues dispatching Wilson here and can now look forward to a semi-final clash with either Zhang Anda or Ding Junhui.

For O’Sullivan’s relative comfort in the end, Wilson drew first blood in a cagey opening frame.

Wilson’s clearance of 44 was enough to complete the job after finishing with a black over the green pocket and proceeded to see out the frame.

That was as good as it got for Wilson, as O’Sullivan took control from that point onwards, suddenly finding his flow after landing himself right amongst the reds and working towards a break of 68.

What followed was the Rocket at his very best, as he opened up the reds with the black and was would surpass a century at 103 points – his third century of the week.

O’Sullivan increased his lead to two after Wilson potted a red into the top corner and left the cue ball ideally positioned for the seven-time world champion to build up another sizeable break – not quite a century on this occasion, but a clearance of 78 left him two frames away from a last-four berth.

It looked like Wilson may have got himself a foothold in the contest in frame five, but O’Sullivan punished him for a poor shot with 51 points left on the table, with the former holding a 52-point lead.

O’Sullivan threatened to end the match with another big clearance when Wilson missed a long red by some way, but the world No. 1 could not quite take full advantage and ended on a 54-point haul.

But he managed to hit the pink at the second attempt, and was able to complete the job when Wilson inadvertently opened up a pack of reds for him.

O’Sullivan rounded off the match in style with a knock of 58, and headed into a 91st ranking event semi-final.