SHEFFIELD, May 4: Ronnie O'Sullivan clinched his second world title on Monday after thrashing Graeme Dott 18-8 in the World Snooker Championship final. The 28-year-old O'Sullivan, who crushed seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 17-4 in the semifinal
, recovered from a poor start to win 18 out of the next 21 frames on his way to regaining the title he first won in 2001.
After collecting a cheque for 250,000 pounds ($442,800), O'Sullivan's thoughts turned to his father, who is serving a life sentence in prison for murder. "This one's for him," said the 28-year-old Briton.
"I got emotional during the match, thinking of my dad sat there watching it. He has been a massive support for me and I'm sure he will be sat in his cell chuffed to bits. "I can't wait to go and see him and spend some time in his company."
The comprehensive margin of victory was all the more impressive coming after O'Sullivan surprisingly lost the first five frames of the match to Scottish outsider Dott.
But he fought back to lead 9-7 when play ended on Sunday evening and produced some outstanding play to extend the lead to 16-8 at the end of the penultimate session.
Undeterred by the appearance of a male streaker in the auditorium, O'Sullivan wasted little time in securing the two frames he required for victory. Despite dominating throughout the tournament, O'Sullivan said he can take his game to an even higher level.
"There's still room for improvement and I know I can get better," he said. "I just want to keep improving in every area of my life." Dott was fulsome in his praise of his rival. "Ronnie's just phenomenally good," he said.
"Everybody talks about his potting, but his safety play was unbelievable." "Dott, who was a 200-1 outsider at the start of the tournament, was so disillusioned with snooker in January that he smashed his cue and considered quitting.
