May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

SHEFFIELD (England), April 30: Ronnie O’Sullivan won seven frames in a row as he took charge of his World Snooker Championship quarter-final against China’s Liang Wenbo here on Wednesday.

Two-time world champion O’Sullivan on Tuesday saw his hopes of hanging onto all the bonus money for his 147 maximum break against Mark Williams — 147,000 pounds plus 10,000 pounds for the highest break of the tournament — dashed by fellow Englishman Ali Carter’s maximum against Peter Ebdon.

On Wednesday, Carter became the first player through to this year’s semi-finals when he beat 2002 world champion Ebdon 13-9.

O’Sullivan, nicknamed ‘the Rocket’, was in unstoppable form after resuming on Wednesday morning at 4-4 with 21-year-old opponent Liang.

Although Liang did eventually pull one back, O’Sullivan’s 11-5 lead left him requiring just two more frames in Wednesday’s evening session for victory in this best of 25-frame match.

Should he reach the semi-finals, he is likely to meet Stephen Hendry, the seven-times world champion, who has an 11-5 lead over Wales’s Ryan Day,

Carter, whose 147 heroics helped him into a 9-7 lead overnight lead, saw his advantage cut when fellow Englishman Ebdon won Wednesday’s first frame.

But Carter then took three frames in a row to leave himself 12-8 in front.

Ebdon won the next but couldn’t prevent the 28-year-old Carter getting the frame he needed for his first appearance in a world championship semi-final.

Carter will face either Scotland’s Stephen Maguire or England’s Joe Perry in the last four.—AFP