MAJESTIC ROCKET TOPPLES KING
11/12/2007 20:01:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan swiftly dismissed the challenge of Mark King at the Maplin UK Championship.
The three-times UK Champion from Chigwell led 7-1 after a superb opening session this morning, and soon added the two frames he needed tonight with breaks of 49, 41 and 40.

O'Sullivan, seeking his first ranking title in 32 months, now faces Jamie Cope or Barry Hawkins in the quarter-finals.

Desite the margin of victory, O'Sullivan declined to talk up his form. "I can't allow myself to say that was a good performance, it was a win but that's it," said the 32-year-old.

"There were far too many unforced errors for my liking. Mark helped me by making a lot of mistakes. I left him among the balls plenty of times but he didn't punish me.

"The scoreline flatters me massively. I want to improve but I don't know whether I need to. I'm my own biggest critic and I can't believe I won the Premier League and got to the final of the (Royal London Watches) Grand Prix playing the way I am."

Marco Fu, who beat the Rocket in that Aberdeen final, joined him in the last eight with a 9-2 success over Joe Perry.

The Hong Kong player was 7-1 up after the first session and soon added the two he needed