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World Snooker
SportHong Kong

Hong Kong Masters: Ronnie O’Sullivan ends Marco Fu’s dream run as he claims title

  • The world champion dominates early on in the final, is hauled back by Fu, but gets over the line to take the HK$1 million prize at the Hong Kong Coliseum
  • Another record crowd, estimated at more than 8,000, are there to see landmark occasion for the city

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Ronnie O’Sullivan and Marco Fu receive their winner and runner-up trophies respectively after the Hong Kong Masters final. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Tom Bell
The final everyone had been hoping for may not have produced a champion from the realms of make-believe, but the bigger picture was still of a local triumph as the Hong Kong Masters reached a cacophonous climax on Sunday.
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There were to be no further miracles a day after Marco Fu Ka-chun reached baize perfection with a maximum break, world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan sweeping to a 6-4 success.
Fu’s contribution, along with the colossal scale of the event, had nonetheless been sufficient to define an exhilarating four days at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

That O’Sullivan, the greatest player the sport has seen, was treading the boards alongside the Hongkonger in the final act proved no less welcome as the remaining tickets sold out once these popular protagonists had sealed their spots.

At more than 8,000 – including losing semi-finalist Neil Robertson – the attendance represented for a third day running the largest audience ever for snooker, and it very much sounded like it as Fu and O’Sullivan got to work.
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If anything, O’Sullivan’s entrance to the arena had topped that of Fu on the volume gauge, yet the world champion played as if in a soundproof bubble in the opening frame.

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