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Ronnie O'Sullivan completed a stunning comeback to reach the final of the Scottish Open beating China’s Li Hang 6-4. Photo: DPA

Ronnie O’Sullivan completes thrilling comeback to beat China’s Li Hang, plays Mark Selby in Scottish Open final

  • China’s Li, the world No 37, held a 4-1 lead before going down to the world champion

There was a time, after the opening session of his Scottish Open, when China’s Li Hang would have been forgiven for imagining he was about to score the biggest win of his career.

Leading 4-1 against the reigning world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final of the ranking Scottish Open, the result looked set to eclipse even his fine quarter-final win over world No 1 Judd Trump in the quarters on Friday.

But then, with the pressure on, the “Rocket” came to life and with fine breaks of 84, 87 and 93, O’Sullivan ended the Liaoning -native’s hopes of another red letter day and booked his spot in the final of the penultimate ranking tournament of the year in the Covid-19-proof bubble at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena.

As is often the case, O’Sullivan was quick to claim he didn’t deserve the win.

“I will take a win all day long. I should never have won it,” O’Sullivan said. “The cue action was not great today I was struggling. I couldn’t get any penetration through the ball.”

Li will take small consolation from the admission. He got things under way with splendid breaks of 51 and 77 in the opening frame, and followed that up with a knock of 62 in the second frame. The world champion hit back with a wonderful 123 break in the third frame, but that would be as good as it got for the veteran in the first half of the match.

Li registered runs of 73 and 66 to take a stranglehold on the match.

O’Sullivan used the recess to take stock and came out after the break reinvigorated. He sealed the win, and a date with long-time rival Mark Selby, with a half-century. He had positive things to say of his defeated opponent, however.

“You can see why he beat Judd (Trump) because he looked sharp and he didn’t miss much,” O’Sullivan said. “Towards the end maybe the snooker gods up there were looking after me.

“I was really trying to get any grip and I was losing the white quite a bit and I had to stay patient.”

Selby thrashed Wales’ Jamie Jones 6-1 in the evening’s other semi-final match in a performance which included clearances of 97, 123 and 128.

The Leicester man looks in ominous form and will be a tough challenge for a stuttering O’Sullivan on Sunday night.

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