O'Sullivan had a 147 chance in the fourth frame but missed the 11th black

Ronnie O'Sullivan crushed world champion John Higgins 6-1 to reach the final of the Shanghai Masters in China.

The world number one raced into a 4-0 lead with breaks of 73, 53 and 81 before Higgins got on the scoreboard.

But O'Sullivan soon wrapped up victory to secure his place in Sunday's final against home favourite Liang Wenbo.

Liang took advantage of Shaun Murphy's scrappy play to win their semi-final 6-5 and reach his first ranking tournament final.

Murphy had dropped just one frame on his way to the semi-final but was out of sorts in a generally poor match.

A 102 break in the second frame put Liang 2-0 up but that was as good as the scoring would get from either man.

I'm sure Ronnie won't play as badly as he did tonight, he'll play better in the final John Higgins

Afterwards Murphy warned Liang that he would need to raise his game in the final.

"If he plays like he played against me he will lose, but he is capable of winning if he pots more balls and plays better safety," he said.

"He beat me but if I had played better and not missed the easy balls then I would have won.

"It was my fault I lost. He's very entertaining and fun to watch, but this is about winning, not entertaining."

But O'Sullivan, who felt he only played well in spells against Higgins, said he was expecting a tough contest.

"I'm just going to try to execute my shots, stay competitive and hope for a good match," said the Englishman.

606: DEBATE Well done for beating Murphy, can he now go on and even win the title? sthendry

"It's fantastic for Liang Wenbo to get to the final and it's not going to be easy.

"I'm not surprised he's in the final because he's a top player, he's been around for a while and it's only a matter of time before he wins a tournament."

Higgins admitted he had been way below his best against O'Sullivan but feels Liang could have his work cut out in the final.

The Scot said: "He'll have to play very well. I'm sure Ronnie won't play as badly as he did tonight, he'll play better in the final. He usually does."

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