Shaun Murphy will face off once again with Ronnie O'Sullivan in the UK Championship final, just four weeks after overcoming O'Sullivan to lift the Champion of Champions title in Coventry.
O'Sullivan was the first man through to the final after surviving a mini-fightback from Stephen Maguire to come through 6-4, before Murphy overcame Ryan Day 6-3 in the second semi-final.
Now the pair will face off again over the best-of-19 frames and O'Sullivan will be hoping to avenge his 10-8 defeat in the Champion of Champions, while Murphy looks to win his second UK title nine years after claiming his only one to date.
A fantastic 61 clearance got the ball rolling for O'Sullivan against Maguire and that signalled how the first four frames would go with the Scotsman having plenty of opportunities but failing to put any pressure on the Rocket. The second frame went to O'Sullivan on the final black, before runs of 54 and 64 saw him cruise to the mid-session 4-0 in front.
Maguire started to put up a fight after the break getting back to 2-4 with a run of 91. The game looked over when O'Sullivan waded back in with an excellent 111 break to move a frame away from victory, but a run of 51 in the eight helped Maguire to extend the match and allow him to make the high break of the match with a 129 in frame nine. The game would soon come to an end though as Maguire left O'Sullivan an opportunity that he was never going to pass up. The contribution of 63 that followed put O'Sullivan into his seventh UK Championship final.
Murphy meanwhile was in sublime form as he dispatched Day. He started as he meant to go on taking the opening frame with a quick fire break of 104 and even though Day levelled at 1-1, Murphy was straight back into his stride in frames three and four with runs of 73 and 89 helping him into a 3-1 mid-session interval lead. The best break of the match came straight after that break when Murphy was in immediately with a bruising long red and went on to make a sublime 135 total clearance and move 4-1 in front.
Day pegged the Magician back with a 61 in the sixth, but could not make the most of an early chance in the seventh frame and when Murphy came in with another good run of 70 he was one away from victory at 5-2. With his back to the wall, Day came out firing and made his own fine century in the eighth, notching up a 128 break but he could not delay the inevitable any longer and Murphy ran out a 6-3 victor.
Semi-Final results:
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Stephen Maguire
The Final: (Best-of-19 frames)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Shaun Murphy
You have to say the two best players in the first half of this season are meeting again here in the final. For both players it is their fourth big final of the season. To go with Murphy's 10-8 win over O'Sullivan in the Champion of Champions final, the Magician had back to back finals in August losing out on both occasions in the China Championship and Paul Hunter Classic. As for O'Sullivan he had wins either side of that Coventry defeat, taking down Kyren Wilson 9-2 to take the English Open, before a dominant display again in Shanghai saw him defeat Judd Trump 10-3.
Looking at the nature of those wins for O'Sullivan you have to say that it is key for Murphy to get off to a good start in York tomorrow. Despite falling 2-0 behind he had that good start in Coventry, winning the first session 5-4 and he will be hoping for a repeat of that on Sunday afternoon. That win was a big one for Murphy with many people dismissing his chances going into that final, given a couple of big wins that O'Sullivan had over Murphy in recent World Championships.
Both players have played well in their own ways this week. Murphy has really been on top form since surviving a scare against Liam Highfield in the last 64, with both his long potting and scoring looking good. When those two key components of his game are firing then you always expect to see him in the latter stages. As for O'Sullivan he had an easy ride into the last 16 before his own scare against Akani Songsermsawad. That may have taken something out of him as he looked a little tired at times when Martin Gould and Stephen Maguire were coming back at him in the quarter and semi-finals, but make no mistake - O'Sullivan will be right up for this final.
They have been the two best players by far this week, and if both players are in good form again tomorrow it will be a cracking final to complete the 2017 UK Championships.
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