RONNIE O’SULLIVAN set up a Masters final clash with Barry Hawkins after seeing off world champion Stuart Bingham 6-3 at London’s Alexandra Palace on Saturday.

    Having lost the opening frame, O’Sullivan put himself firmly in the driving seat by claiming the next five in a row, making a break of 121 along the way.

    World No. 2 Bingham, who had never won a Masters match prior to this year, subsequently rallied to make it 5-3.

    But five-time world champion O’Sullivan then won a tight ninth to finish the job and advance to his 11th Masters final, where the world No. 6 will be bidding for a sixth title.

    World No. 8 Hawkins, another man never to have got beyond round one prior to this year, booked his place in the final earlier Saturday with a surprise 6-4 win over Judd Trump.

    Trump, who Friday had emerged victorious from a thrilling quarterfinal clash against Neil Robertson having made the 2016 tournament’s highest break of 140, was widely regarded as favorite for this contest.

    But the world No. 5 was stunned early on as Hawkins reeled off two centuries of his own, 130 and then 128, to take the first two frames.

    Trump fought back to bring things level at 2-2, and then, after his opponent regained the lead, made it 3-3 with a break of 103, before moving ahead for the first time at 4-3.

    But Hawkins, the 2013 World Championship finalist, subsequently took the next three frames to seal the triumph, adding his third century break of the match with 100 in the middle of those.

    And he told BBC Sport: “He (Trump) was obviously favorite to beat me with the way he played yesterday, but I always know if you can take your practice game out there you have a chance, and today I managed to do that.”

    Asked where his form had come from, Hawkins said: “I don’t know.

    “It is probably a little bit similar to the Crucible (the World Championship, which he had never got beyond the second round of prior to 2013) — I won a game there and it settled me down.

    “Perhaps that is what has happened here. I can’t believe I am in the final now. I have a chance of winning it, and I am over the moon.”

    (SD-Agencies)