SHEFFIELD, England, 29 April 2004 — Ronnie O’Sullivan breezed through to the semifinals of the world championship after thrashing Anthony Hamilton 13-3 at the Crucible Theater on Tuesday.
O’Sullivan was in devastating form as he brushed aside Hamilton, notching four century breaks in a one-sided match.
O’Sullivan’s bad behavior earlier in the tournament, which included making crude gestures and thumping the table, prompted criticism from world snooker chief Rodney Walker and the 2001 champion admitted after his victory he was in the wrong.
“He’s right. I know I should set a good example,” said O’Sullivan. “I was wrong, but I’m human and I’ll probably make a lot more mistakes in my life.”
O’Sullivan is now looking to attract headlines with his performances on the table. He said: “I think enough has been said this week. I’m here to play snooker and that’s all I want to do.”
Hamilton could only marvel at O’Sullivan’s near-flawless performance, saying: “I wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve seen, but it was close to it. “There were no wrong shots and he was class. Every time I came to the table I was in trouble.”
Scotland’s Stephen Hendry is the favorite to face O’Sullivan in the last four after taking a 6-2 lead over Ian McCulloch in their quarterfinal.
McCulloch, who was trailing from the early stages, finished the session with a century break to give himself a glimmer of hope.
Welshman Matthew Stevens is just two frames away from the semifinals after building up an 11-5 advantage over Joe Perry.
Stevens was 5-3 up at the resumption of play and he won six out of eight frames to extend his lead to six frames.
In the other quarterfinal Graeme Dott is 6-2 ahead against David Gray following a low-scoring opening session in the best-of-25-frames match.
