Ebdon beaten by his nemesis

SNOOKER

Ronnie O'Sullivan completed an impressive 5-1 victory over Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals of the Kloster Thailand Open in Bangkok yesterday and admitted: "I'd swap my Masters crown to win this title." O'Sullivan is taking nothing for granted, even though he is on course for a top-four ranking next season.

"One or two players can still overtake me, which make events like this far more important than the one I won at Wembley last month," he said. "There was more money at the Masters, but ranking points matter most and while I can't catch Stephen Hendry at the moment, I've got to start thinking of knocking him off the No 1 spot sometime."

The 19-year-old, still looking for his first ranking-event victory this season, added: "This is the third semi-final of the season for me in a ranking tournament so perhaps it's third time lucky. I must have a great chance now of winning."

It was Ebdon's seventh defeat in eight matches against O'Sullivan, who conceded: "I don't think Peter likes playing me. He always gives me lots of chances. Perhaps it is something to do with the number of times we played each other as amateurs. I always seemed to beat him then."

O'Sullivan will meet either Tony Drago or Cliff Thorburn in the semi- finals.