Ronnie O’Sullivan admitted Neil Robertson “took him apart” as the defending champion was dumped out of the Dafabet Masters semi-finals in emphatic fashion on Saturday.

Robertson continued his scintillating form at Alexandra Palace with a 6-1 win over O’Sullivan to seal a final showdown against Shaun Murphy.

Murphy fought back from two frames down to beat Mark Allen 6-2 in the second semi-final and set up a repeat of the 2012 title match with Robertson, which the Australian won 10-6.

Robertson will fancy his chances of repeating that success following his impressive demolition of O’Sullivan.

Playing in his third Masters final in four years, Robertson now faces Murphy, who reeled off six successive frames to beat Allen.

Allen looked in good shape to progress when breaks of 83 and 62 saw him take a 2-0 lead, but Englishman Murphy roared back in some style.

He edged the third frame before winning the next five with breaks of 80, 83, 76, 102 and 60.