England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan storms into final after beating Stephen Lee: 2012 German Masters
The 2012 German Masters snooker tournament has entered into the final phase at the Tempodrom arena in Berlin as England’s Ronnie O’Sullivan defeated compatriot Stephen Lee by the score line of 6-4 to surge into the final of the tournament.
The Rocket, Ronnie O’Sullivan set up a penultimate clash against Stephen Lee after beating Wales’ Matthew Stevens in the quarters. He had a strong run after he barely escaped a whitewash defeat in the first round at the hands of Andrew Higginson. The Essex
Exocet settled in after his first-round match and focused on his game with great determination that paid him well in the semi-finals.
Despite suffering from glandular fever, the 36-year-old O’Sullivan showed his excellent snooker genius to beat Stephen Lee 6-4 and book a berth in the final. The former three-time World Snooker Champion said that he had been fighting illness for two months
now and that he is worried about his health.
However, the Magician did not show any impacts of his sickness during the match and proved that nothing can stop him when he is on top of his performance. The Tempodrom arena placed a house-full board outside the gate as 2,500 people flocked into Tempodrom
to watch the Rocket in action and they got what they expected from him.
In his post match interview with World Snooker, O’Sullivan said, “I'm just relieved to get though because I've really been struggling with glandular fever this week. I didn't think I was going to get through the match. It's not an excuse for missing balls
but sometimes I feel dead on my feet. I was wiped out even before the game, I just had to try to get through it.”
The Wordsley potter added, “I've had it since early December. I was playing a lot of matches and travelling from event to event with a lot of late nights, and I was exhausted. I knew it was building, but I was doing well in a couple of tournaments and there
wasn't time to rest.”
A cracking break of 73 brought O’Sullivan in a 2-0 lead but missing a red to a centre pocket cost him a loss in frame 3. Lee took another frame to move within two frames up at 2-2 before O’Sullivan bounced back to make it 3-2 after five frames.
At the end of the seventh frame, O’Sullivan was leading 5-2 but Lee’s impressive snooker display extended the score line to 5-4. After that, the West Midlands cueman clinched the tenth frame to claim the semi-final win and move into the ultimate battle.
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