Day 3 Masters Snooker Highlights

Hello and welcome to Alexandra Palace for highlights of the 2014

Masters. There is always a great buzz when Ronnie O'Sullivan rolls

into town. All 1500 tickets were snapped up for his match against

Robert Milkins, but first let's show you the best of the action of this

afternoon's match between Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy. There was a

power cut here, but when they got going, this was electric. This

should be a cracking match. And now he is in business. And Ding leads

2-0. He played that beautifully. It's 2-2. Game on! Ah, what a shot

he played there. He only needs the yellow. It is a good that under the

circumstances. He still trails by 4-3, but he is

right back in it. Absolutely amazing. He played it superbly well.

Beautifully struck. What a turn around, Shaun Murphy won three

frames in a row and he leads 5-4. A great comeback so could Murphy

finish off the job? We pick it up in 10. It is Ding to play on a break of

39. He missed the canon. He played a

canon on to the pink and look where he finished. Well, you don't often

see a smile from Ding, but he missed th canon. Let's have a look at this.

Had he hit it a little easier, it wouldn't have mattered, he would

still have had the red. I mean it is a massive area, the pink. Quarter

ball. Half ball. Any sort of contact on it would have been fine, but it

is such a mistake. He played that well though. A good shot. It is just

a delicate little canon on to the pink, but a wide target. Well,

Hawk-Eye will just show you. Full-ball. Half-ball. Anything and

it was perfect. Another 46 break. That's what he got the last frame

and broke down. Well, I think this red, he looked at the potting angle.

He is going to sneak this in past the other red. He will be playing a

safety shot. He has got the chance of a good safety with this as well.

It is one of those shots maybe the yellow and the brown will come to

your rescue if you don't knock it in. The angle might be there. The

red is there. The red is in. And even though he is not on the brown,

Ding is going to be in all sorts of trouble here. Yeah, a great pot that

was. I don't know whether that was a good

shot on the brown though. I would have liked to have covered this side

that Ding is coming off. I could see him hitting it. The other way would

have been a bit more difficult with the pink in the way.

Yeah, he left this slightly easier escape. He didn't really give that

as much thought as he needed to that roll up behind the brown there. He

should have had that angle cut off. A beauty, by the looks of it. Well.

Not quite. Almost. Boy, what a shot this will be because if he pots

this, he could finish on the black. The white will come right round the

table and he won't canon into anything.

Well, he did canon the pink and he left Shaun a chance now. One good

clean pot, Shaun. It is highly likely that you will finish on a

colour even kout doing too much with the cue ball here. Put yourself in

the driver's seat. It's there. Beautifully controlled as well. And

an angle, I think, is it? He is a bit strange, but he has the cue

power to pot this and get up for the yellow, but it is not going to be

straightforward! Normally, it wouldn't be a problem. A slight

angle, reverse side, you watch the white when it hits a cushion. He

didn't quite get enough side on that. It is a tricky little cut back

past the green. He is 20 in front. He only needs the yellow and the

green and it will be a terrific victory for The Magician. It is

there! Well, Ding, I don't think he can believe what happened from 4-2

in front it has all slipped away. He can't believe it, but every credit

to Shaun Murphy he stuck in there. He will be absolutely over the moon,

Shaun Murphy. That's it all over. Ding comes forward. Ding looked like

he was going to dominate the match, he head 4-2, but Shaun Murphy has

taken the last four frames for victory and he goes through to the

quarter-final winning s frames to four. Who would have thought it? All

our matches seem, pardon the pun ding-dong matches. When we play each

other, our match in Shanghai was a great match and then he went on this

mad run of not losing and he is a phenomenal player and that for me

and in, you know, in context of my season so far, it is a massive,

massive win and I'm over the moon. Ultimately, you know, I will always

be searching for this tournament to complete my little triple crown of

BBC events, you know, I'm not looking at that just yet. Rome

wasn't built in a day. I'm just thankful to be in the next round.

What an excellent performance from Shaun Murphy. He will meet Marco Fu

in the last match. Now, the next match Robert Milkins

and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Look at the fans queuing up. A wonderful

atmosphere inside the venue ahead of Ronnie's arrival. Well, The Rocket

won the Masters in 1995 beating John Higgins and had to wait another ten

years to win it again. Quite a contrast when you consider his

opponent, Robert Milkins, making his debut at the Masters. He is ranked

13th in the world. He joined the top 16 for the first time in July last

year. The Milkman has never beaten The Rocket.

I haven't been here before. I haven't played in the Masters

before. I'm not really knowing too much what to expect. But I'm looking

forward to it. If I can raise my game for this game, I'm sure playing

against Ronnie in front of his home supporters, it will be a good

atmosphere. Ronnie is one of those players that can get on top of you,

you know. He has done it to me in the past and nobody else has done

it. You are sat in your seat and you are almost not wanting to come back

because you don't want to make a mess up of it again and he has done

that against me a couple of times. It is not a nice place to be. But

I'm going to try and make a bit more of an effort against him than I did

in the UK. I've learned a bit from that. To beat Neil on that stage was

massive for me and it was a step in the right direction, but Ronnie is a

bit different to Neil. Different sort of game completely. Ronnie is

lot for attacking -- more attacking and to beat him would be my greatest

ever win. Please welcome a player making his

first appearance at the Masters after 19 years as a pro, finally

this man's hard work has been rewarded with a climb up to the

world's top 16, a four time ranking event semi-finalist with one of the

best walk on songs in the sport. He is The Milkman, Robert Milkins.

MUSIC: "I'm A Cider Drinker" by The Wurzels.

And his opponent, four times a winner of this title, the first of

those in 1995 as a teenager, five times he has conquered The Crucible,

he is the reigning world champion. Blink and you will miss him, The

Rocket, Ronnie O'Sullivan. MUSIC: "A Man Should Better Himself"

by George Lam. Cracking atmosphere and one of the

Rolling Stones in the crowd. O'Sullivan one the first frame. He

is trained by 55 points in the second.

That is the perfect safety shot. He has loosened the red and he

snookered Robert on all of them. The last time they met, of course, in

the UK championship, Ronnie ran out a comfortable win 6-1. This could be

a free ball. If the round passes the blue... He may accept the free

ball. If he doesn't, he may have it replaced. He is playing for brown.

It counts as a red. Then a colour to follow.

He needed a little bit more of a pounds than he got.

I think he got a fractional kick that slowed the cue ball down.

These look easy but they are always tricky. He coped with it well.

Six. I am not certain if the white is

occupying the black spot. He wants to clear the black spot. Seven. I

get the feeling Ronnie O'Sullivan is a shot away from making this a full

gone conclusion of a clearance and that is, once again, silly to say

that we are so used to him clearing the balls from seemingly impossible

positions. A good split of these red...

He just wants to get the correct angle on one of the colours before

he decides to go into the reds. 14. I was thinking for a minute, it

didn't pass the black. It clearly does. 20.

If he can just get to the bottom bread, he doesn't even have to break

into them. That is inch perfect. 29. If he is the right side of this

black... It has just come a bit short. First mistake. He has got to

hit this pretty hard to get this across.

He is making it look pretty easy so far.

Once he puts the red to the middle, he frees the other two reds. It is

all about cue ball control and nobody does it better.

Little bit short. He will have to go for the blue. He needs a good angle

on the blue of this red. 45. That is just about inch perfect.

Against normal players, the positional mistakes of Robert

Milkins wouldn't have cost him so dearly but he is up against one of

the most exceptional snooker players who has ever been and is making

light work of this counterattack. Of course, what created this opening

was the good safety shot he played when he flicked the red of the

cushion, loosened the red and snookered Robert. This is the

result. 66.

Whilst this is exceptional to look at, it is also very clinical. 71.

Superb! Absolutely superb! In the moment Robert Milkins ended his 42,

a better one by Ronnie O'Sullivan got the opportunity and he clears up

with a break of 84. 2-0. The crowd loving this. He is leading

a game. I think he can get around the back

of the black. He has got to catch this just right.

If he catches it too thick he will hit the blue. If he misses the brand

it will be perfect but he didn't. He hit the brown full in the face so

here is a chance so close! So close! Unlucky. It

couldn't have been any closer and not dropped.

He tried to play it positively by playing it slow.

Barring complete accidents, it looks like 3-0 here. Eight. Nine.

So it is snooker is required. Ronnie 46 points in front, 43 Murnane in --

43 remaining. I don't think Robert Milkins will be coming back to the

table. It is a tough debut for Robert

Milkins. He will obviously have been excited

about the prospects and it is never nice when you don't fulfil your

potential out there. This man makes it very difficult at the best of

times. When they played in the UK

championship, Ronnie ran out a 6-0 win. That was the last BBC

tournament. Pot success for Ronnie is 91%. 76%

Robert Milkins, particularly in his style of game, not good enough.

One more frame to pay before the mid-session interval. I feel Robert

will be desperate to get it on the board because that is another frame

on the board for the Rocket and he now leads Robert Milkins by 3-0.

Thank you. The fourth frame. Robert Milkins to break.

He will want something for his efforts.

Top-class safety shot from Ronnie O'Sullivan. If you got the cue ball

a bit further over he would have put Robert Milkins into a knot of

trouble. Likewise, a good shot from Robert. At first glance, that has

presented a small problem for Ronnie.

He got some said on that as well. As Robert Milkins was coming to the

table he said, shot! A trademark long part. Beautifully played.

Robert Milkins has a sporting attitude. That is a great shot as

well. Never frightened to give his opponents praised at the table.

His back is against the wall and he is opening up and going for his

shots. It would have been handy if that had gone in. It was missable. I

think what makes those shots more difficult, because you are not sure

whether cue ball is going to finish and you have one eye on what colour

you are going to be on but the most important thing is potting the

ball. Now he is just going to sit and

serve. He has and paste it... No, perfect.

You will see this break open up. The black ball is pottable if he gets

the correct angle. If you can't shift to read from the

black spot, black goes on the blue. 11.

12. We are not even at 50 minutes react

and we are into the fourth frame. That wipes its feet! Because he hit

it too thick, he nearly got an unwanted cannon.

If you can get a good angle on the black, he is absolutely inch

perfect. I would say the best player in the

game for judging the weight of the shot at the moment.

He is a bit betwixt and between here. He has got the red below the

main pack. No problem, just the cannon of the

second red. There is a red available. Whether he can get on

that... If not, he may play they can then. -- the cannon.

It could have worked out better. I don't care how good you are, when

you go for a red new always need a bit of luck.

But he is not missing much now, is he?

The general level of positional play from Ronnie O'Sullivan at the speed

he plays with is phenomenal. 14 seconds a shot. And rarely does he

play a bad positional shot. Once again, normal service has been

resumed. The canon cannon into that red. He

can concentrate on the pink and the blue. 56 points ahead. Just a red

and a colour needed to go into the mid-session interval with a 4-0

lead. Yes, he is putting on a bit of a masterclass here tonight.

Don't think for one minute that that red on the side cushion is going to

be a problem in stopping him from making a century break here.

Well, he packed the Alexandra Palace this evening. This is spush superb

stuff. He looked focussed. He really looked focussed, but to me, he

looked focussed since his return at the World Championship last year. He

just seems a little bit more into it. I think having that year out. I

think he really missed the game and if you played this well, why

wouldn't you? But he will need a double and even for Ronnie, these

aren't certain. Well, unlucky. He did see the

century, but we have seen a wonderful four frames. Robert

Milkins had his chances and Ronnie O'Sullivan marches on. The

mid-session interval he leads 4-0. The quickest frame of the match so

far under nine minutes. Into the second, Ronnie O'Sullivan to play.

He has to be careful with the pink here. Oh, he has misjudged this.

REFEREE: A miss. Robert can get through to the red just above the

black. And the perfect angle on the black should he wish to open up this

frame. He couldn't have played it any better. Robert Milkins couldn't

have played that any better. He hit the pink perfectly. A bit unlucky

how the balls are split. OK, obviously when you play that shot,

you are pushing balls towards the black. But look what he has been

left with. That wasn't easy. It wasn't so much the pot, the pot was

probably OK, but he was trying to control it by playing it softly for

the blue. If he hit it harder, it probably would have been an easier

pot. A bit of a misjudgement from Ronnie

O'Sullivan there. He thought he could get the cue ball further up

the table even though sometimes the cue ball can still have a bit of top

spin on once it starts to return down the table and that top spin

slows it up. A missable blue. His potting has certainly come in in

the last few frames. He was down at 20%. It is now up to 60%.

He could have played for the black off that red, but it is so crowded

around the black spot that he is going to try and clear a few reds

from that before playing the black. And even work on the pink which goes

into the middle and the corner. Well, a little cannon on the red

just above the black. Just to clear a little bit more. Does that go?

Yes, it does. Oh, it is perfect. He will be a little bit disappointed

with that, leaving himself hampered. He shouldn't miss the black, but he

won't want to be hampered and it made him play a poor positional

shot. OK, he is on this red to the corner, but it is thinner than he

would have liked. He is just hanging on to position

here. Trusting to luck somewhat. Once again another missable shot,

but he looked in good form. The red to the right corner.

Worrying times for Robert Milkins. He is on the brink of 5-0 here.

Ronnie O'Sullivan needs a couple of positional shots and he is home and

dry. And he managed to control the cue

ball and just stopped it short of the red.

And now, you would expect him to win the frame. Robert, well he had his

chance. He potted the blue and he hit the pink really well, and we

have just passed the hour mark. He could have been left with an easier

red to continue with. This was it. Everything looked good.

And the black looked tied up a little bit, but as it happened, are

it would have been available into the right corner, but playing the

red he did slowly with the rest just caught it a fraction too thick.

Robert Milkins was at 15, and he slowed down a bit, but Ronnie

keeping it up at 14. The last hope for Robert Milkins that Ronnie

O'Sullivan is out of position on the blue. He left a bit further apart

away from this red than he would have liked. You wouldn't expect him

to miss this and convert the frame. Hoping beyond hope.

Well, he will get another chance. So Ronnie O'Sullivan is back to his

seat. 42 points the lead, but there is still 59 remaining. I get the

feeling if Ronnie played that shot without having the ball cleaned, he

would have potted it. A big shot for Robert Milkins. Ah, it was so close.

I think that's the story of the evening so far, it is so near and

yet so far. That wasn't a bad shot. He was that close to getting that

in. It could have dropped. Just so close. It ducked into the top

cushion and could have dropped. Pretty tight pockets. End of frame.

5-0 and I don't think there is any way back, Robert Milkins has not

shown any type of form tonight that's going to get him back into

this match, unless Ronnie O'Sullivan completely takes his foot off the

gas. In goes the black. 58 points the lead now. Just 43 remaining. And

that will just mean that Robert Milkins will not get back to the

table. It was a whitewash in the UK. You wouldn't bet against it in this

competition. And just over an hour to get to that 5-0 scoreline.

A clever little positional shot he pulled out there. He deliberately

played for the yellow in the middle. I wonder if we have seen any other

strange positional shots here. It doesn't look like it, but you never

know. So in goes the black. It is 5-0.

Robert Milkins had a couple of chances and didn't make them and

Ronnie O'Sullivan just keeps getting stronger. Just one frame away now

from a place in the second round. Ronnie Wood loves it. The crowd

getting a lot of satisfaction this evening. Robert Milkins stuck at it

and finally got off the mark with a break of 57. The crowd giving him a

big cheer as he potted the blue and then he goes on to pot the pink

showing his real fighting quality is Robert Milkins. Potting the pink. A

very difficult evening for Robert Milkins. So Ronnie O'Sullivan just

one frame away from victory and into the next, Robert Milkins is up

against it again. A little bit of pressure on this

shot, but it looks like he spotted a route in between pink and black and

he got enough side spin also to play an excellent safety shot back.

Robert Milkins maybe thinking for a moment he was going to attempt to

play this as a pot safety. He chose the wiser option.

A tempter for Ronnie O'Sullivan. Well, it couldn't have been much

closer. A chance now for Robert. And he knocks his one in this. It is not

an easy chance to get his second frame on the scoreboard. But he had

a nice angle on the pink there. He has one of the reds into play. He

has the one along the right and the one along the top cushion, but at

least he is still in there with a chance. It would be some one visit

clearance here. Awkward bridging. The odds against clearing up with

both those reds on the cushions, but it is not impossible.

These are tough shots. Particularly if you have to play them with any

pace and he can't afford to miss this.

I think that was asking for the impossible. Even Robert is laughing

at that! We have seen some shots, but that was way out.

He cue ball is close to the corner. Robert Milkins is getting help back

into this match. No alarm bells are ringing and the moment.

19 points ahead and he is looking for these two reds. Not tempted by

the double that time. I think if Ronnie O'Sullivan plays

the right tactical shots, he will be home and dry. But he has a risky

shot here. That was well played. Here. I think you picked up, like I

did, I get the feeling Robert Milkins has run his race. He played

the red across the top cushion and the odds of getting that were very

long. Just this red and a colour and that will be the race ran for Robert

Milkins. He could have got easier draws on his debut at the Masters.

Not sure what shot he played along that top cushion.

It is irrelevant now, I suppose. Just rolling it in May have been an

option. I think he played it and he tried to

play it at pace. It was all or nothing and Ronnie had just missed a

few. He has missed their but Robert Milkins game wasn't good enough. A

standing ovation from a rolling stone for Ronnie O'Sullivan. He goes

through to the second round with a few mistakes but looking good early

on. He was our winner 6-1. I made a few mistakes but on the

whole I felt pretty solid to night. I just had to wait and be patient,

get some chances. Ronnie didn't play as well as he did

in the UK. I was surprised I was getting chances but I didn't really

do myself justice and I choked a bit, really, with the Masters. The

atmosphere there was something different, one table in front of all

those people. Playing Ronnie as well. I just didn't do myself

justice at all. They are all top quality players in

this tournament and any tournament, whoever is on their game will

probably go on and win the title so it is just a matter of form.

Well placed Ronnie O'Sullivan. Let us just showed you how the draw is

looking. Mark Selby is through and will play John Higgins in the last

eight. Marco Fu beat Judd Trump and he will they Shaun Murphy. The UK

champion, Neil Robertson, plays Mark Allen tomorrow for the right to play

Stephen Maguire. The Rocket is also through after a

stunning win over Robert Milkins. Hazel is next with extended

highlights. Then we are back at one o'clock here on BBC Two. We will see

Neil Robertson taking on Mark Allen. Lots of snooker ahead. See you then.

I for now. -- by for now.