World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's 10-1 drubbing of Ken Doherty to win his third UK Championship extends his commanding lead at the top of the provisional world rankings.

Mark Williams will remain the official number one until the end of the season, but O'Sullivan is now some 5,000 points clear of John Higgins.

The new rankings do not come into force until next May, but the players are now three-quarters of the way through the two-year cycle.

There are five more ranking tournaments to come this season, but if O'Sullivan maintains anything like this week's form he is unlikely to be caught.

Peter Ebdon produced one to establish an 8-4 lead in their quarter-final, but then the 25-year-old world champion summoned an inspired five-frame winning streak to prevail 9-8.

O'Sullivan may be self-critical, but he was very pleased with that recovery and his 9-6 semi-final win over Mark Williams.

"My safety was good and I didn't miss a long ball all day," he said.

A brilliant long pot frequently initiates a frame-winning break because, once in, he scores with such touch and fluency and often makes this difficult game look absurdly easy.

In winning the last nine frames against Doherty, O'Sullivan made breaks of 106, two of 72 and seven more over 40.

"I suppose I've got to give myself some credit for that but anti-climax is the word, I suppose."

Apart from his 95 break in the second frame, Doherty had a dreadful day, missing several sitters and totalling only 43 points in the last six frames.

It could be said that O'Sullivan's most dangerous opponent is himself.

Black depressions occasionally descend on him for no apparent reason.

He played brilliantly in the British Open, but in his 6-4 defeat by Graeme Dott in the semi-finals he played as if a light within him had suddenly been switched off.

High strike-rate

After making his 147 in the LG Cup, he could not sleep that night. He felt very low the next day and lost to Ebdon that evening.

Such lapses apart, he has established himself on the circuit as the player to beat when major titles are at stake.

This was his 11th world ranking title and his 23rd from 32 finals in all, which is an exceptionally high strike-rate.

His �100,000 first prize, plus �10,000 for the highest break of the televised phase, 142, takes his career earnings beyond �3m.

That is a mark previously reached only by Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White.