体坛英语新闻：Defending champion O'Sullivan into semis at Wembley Masters

LONDON, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Peter Ebdon here on Thursday to cruise into the semifinals of the Wembley Master Snooker.

    World number one O'Sullivan opened the match at Wembley Arena in 4-0, looking determined to give a lesson to former world champion Ebdon.

    Ebdon, beating Marco Fu from Hong Kong of China 6-2 last Sunday, chased two frames back later before O'Sullivan went to 5-2 up witha 97-12 win in the seventh frame.

    Ebdon still refused to surrender by pulling one back in 65-1, but the three time world champion O'Sullivan sealed the victory in106-32.

    "Peter's a good lad and I never look at it as being pleased to beat him. It was a decent game," said O'Sullivan, who has taken three world champion titles in 17-year career.

    O'Sullivan, grabbing four titles at the most prestigious invitation event, came back from a 3-0 down to defeat Australian Neil Robertson 6-4 on Tuesday.

    O'Sullivan is going to play Mark Williams, who sank world number three Shaun Murphy 6-4 later on Thursday evening.

    Williams lost the first frame but took the following four in form. Murphy showed his ability with two centuries later, but failed to stop William wrapping up the match after frame ten.

    "I've always been confident in my ability and the way I play that's why I'm still playing the game," said Williams who surprised himself on Tuesday by beating Allister Carter 6-3 while he was suffering a neck injury due to a car accident on Monday night.