Ronnie O'Sullivan hit a quite brilliant 147 to seal a 13-7 victory over Mark Williams and cruise into the last eight of the World Championship in Sheffield.

O'Sullivan led 9-7 going into the final session and continued to cue beautifully as he extended his lead.

Breaks of 71 and 60 gave him the first two frames and Williams had no answer.

O'Sullivan then polished his opponent off with the ninth and possibly best maximum of his career, which puts him in line for a prize of £157,000.

He said: "As soon as I got on the first red I thought that I had to go for the 147.

"Obviously it's more important to win the game but that money gives me a few options in the summer. I'll be getting a Bentley Convertible now - I've been dying to get one.

"The difference between this season and the last 13 seasons is that I've stumbled across a couple of things and kept my discipline with it and stayed patient.

"So I've never hit disastrous standards - before as soon as it went wrong I just wanted to get out of there."

O'Sullivan now has the record for the most competitive maximum breaks, having previously been tied with Stephen Hendry on eight.

Defeat for two-time world champion Williams means he will now drop out of the world's top 16, and will thus have to go through qualifying to make the ranking tournaments.


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