It will be Ronnie vs Judd Trump tomorrow in the Shanghai Masters Final
Here are the reports on Worldsnooker:
Judd Trump reached the final of the Shanghai Masters for the third time by beating Jack Lisowski 6-3 in the semis on Friday.
Trump will meet Ronnie O’Sullivan or John Higgins in Saturday’s final with first to ten frames to take the £150,000 top prize. World number three Trump will be chasing his ninth career ranking title and second of the season having won the European Masters last month.
Bristol’s Trump has lost his previous two finals in Shanghai by a 10-9 scoreline, against Higgins in 2012 and Kyren Wilson in 2015, so the 28-year-old will be hoping to make it third time lucky.
Breaks of 52 and 70 helped Trump go 2-0 up against close friend Lisowski, and at that stage he had won a remarkable 25 consecutive frames in the tournament, having taken the last three of his qualifying match against Joe Swail before winning four consecutive matches in Shanghai by a 5-0 scoreline.
Lisowski, competing in his first ranking semi-final, ended that run with a 79 clearance and then added frame four to make it 2-2 at the interval. Trump regained the lead with a run of 105, his fourth century of the tournament, then Lisowski’s 55 made it 3-3.
Trump dominated frame seven then made a 72 to lead 5-3. Frame nine came down to the colours and could have gone either way, but Trump won it on a respotted black to book his 17th ranking final.
“I had a chance to go 3-0 up but when Jack won the third frame it changed the momentum,” said Trump, who has won three ranking titles in China. “At 3-3 he was looking the better player so I had to dig in, and in the end I just made a few less mistakes than he did.
“I’m glad to see Jack doing well and hopefully he can kick on from this. It’s only a matter of time before he wins a tournament and gets into the top 16.
“I’ll enjoy the challenge against either Ronnie or John, I usually play well against both of them. They are probably the only two players now that I can still learn something from. It will be an enjoyable final for me and Shanghai has always been one of my favourite places to play.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-2 John Higgins
Ronnie O’Sullivan moved a step closer to a 30th career ranking title by beating John Higgins 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.
It’s O’Sullivan’s third win over Higgins within a month as the Rocket beat his fellow snooker legend 4-3 at the English Open and 6-0 at the Champion of Champions. O’Sullivan and Higgins are tied on 29 ranking titles but now the Englishman has the chance to get to 30 first and move a step closer to Stephen Hendry’s record of 36.
World number seven O’Sullivan will face Judd Trump in what promises to be a superb final at the Shanghai Grand Stage on Saturday, with first to ten frames to take the trophy and £150,000 top prize. Chigwell’s 41-year-old O’Sullivan will be aiming for his second ranking title of the season having won the English Open in Barnsley four weeks ago. He’ll also be looking to make amends for defeat to Shaun Murphy in the Champion of Champions final last week.
Wishaw’s Higgins won a scrappy opening frame today then O’Sullivan hit back with breaks of 79 and 67 to take the next two, and he cleared the colours in frame four to lead 3-1 at the interval. Frame five also looked to be going O’Sullivan’s way until he knocked a red in when splitting the pack on 24, and Higgins gained a foothold in the match with a 79 clearance.
O’Sullivan won the sixth with runs of 33 and 40. The next came down to a safety battle on the black and O’Sullivan knocked in a double to a corner pocket to go 5-2 ahead. The 2009 Shanghai Masters champion finished in style with a break of 123 to reach his 44th ranking final.
“I’m so happy to be in the final,” said O’Sullivan. “It was a tough match because John is one of the all-time greats. Even when I was 4-2 and 5-2 up I knew the game could change very quickly so it was important to stay professional until the end.
“I would love to go on and win it. My game can improve but there’s no point looking too far ahead because that can play tricks with your mind. A 19 frame match is a long one and sometimes you have to change the pattern of the game. The nicest way to win is to go out there and play your game and be too strong for your opponent, but that doesn’t always happen, so you have to use your experience, your skill and whatever you have.”
Higgins said: “The best two players this week are in the final, Ronnie and Judd. I tried hard but I found the conditions difficult. There has been a lot of rain here and it was difficult to move the white around. Ronnie potted some great balls and made some good clearances. If I had won the seventh frame on the black I might have been back in the match, but overall I didn’t play well enough.”
Here is Ronnie’s match:
It wasn’t an easy match by any means and much closer than the score suggests. Ronnie got the balance right between attacking and playing hard match snooker. Enjoy.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
“Ronnie got the balance right between attacking and playing hard match snooker”
Ronnie seems to have a new found commitment to winning titles. He’s always said that he cares more about playing well and entertaining his fans than he does about winning, but as he gets closer to the end of his career I get the impression that he is thinking that it might be nice after all to have his name at the top of the record books with (or ahead of) Stephen Hendry.
He admitted that he does want to get to 18 Triple Crown wins, and with the standard of his recent play, perhaps 36 ranking titles isn’t completely out of the question either…