Ronnie Rockets to the top of the mountain capturing his fifth world title

PIC: Daily Mail

Ronnie O Sullivan won his 5th World Snooker championship at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield Monday evening, as the player dubbed "The Rocket" finished off Barry Hawkins winning the title by 18 frames to 12 and successfully defended his crown.

O Sullivan was the major odds on favourite to win the world title as he had dispatched his previous opponents easily defeating them in the tournament.

PIC: Yahoo Sports

The Rocket seemed to start off as he meant to go on as he took the opening two frames of the first session with breaks of 74 and 92 in them both. Barry Hawkins then came back from 2 down to lead 3 - 2 with three consecutive frames in a row as his first two frames he won he didn`t even let his opponent score taking them both by scores of 98-0 and 81-0.

O Sullivan wasn`t going to be outdone and bounced back taking the next three frames in a row, with two century breaks in the process with breaks of 113  & 100 as the session came to a close.

The Evening session saw both players then trading frames back and forth in frames 9 to 12 before Hawkins took the next two frames with a break of 83 in the 13^th and 133 in the 14^th frame to make it 7 – 7 .

Ronnie O Sullivan then won frames 15 and 16 with two consecutive century breaks of 103 & 106 and In the Seventeenth and final frame of the evening session of play, the last frame was a tight affair as the Rocket took it 69 – 62, After Hawkins tried to play the black ball safe but left it too close to the corner and so the Rocket coolly potted the black ball from long range to give him a 10 - 7 overnight lead and put O Sullivan in the driving seat to defend his world title.

Pic: Getty Images

We moved to Bank Holiday Monday and the continuation of the World final saw Barry Hawkins needing to get in early and win some early frames to pressure the defending champion and make him worried early on.

And That was just what the man from Kent started out doing, as he took the opening frames of the day winning 71 - 36 in the 18^th Frame, as O Sullivan had missed a blue which gave Hawkins the advantage and with a break of 30 and 41 in the frame to pull it back a bit.

Hawkins then missed pot on a red ball which handed the chance to his opponent to capitalize and capitalize he did, as it took Ronnie O Sullivan two visits to the table to finish off and in doing so, he restored his 3 frame lead again to go 11 - 8 up in the nineteenth frame.

Barry Hawkins had a frame ball chance on the red but missed, and was made to regret missing as O Sullivan yet again made the most as he cleared up with a break of 55 to win by a solitary point 57 – 56.

However it was him that then made an error himself as he missed a long red allowing Hawkins to make a break of 90 and so brought it back to a 3 frame lead once more at 12-9.

Ronnie then shrugged off his mistake in the previous frame to record a 133 clearance along with a break of 67 in the following one to extend his lead to 14 - 9 and was closing in now on the title as he was edging closer to the defending it .

PIC: Zimbo

PIC:Zimbo

Frame 23 saw a terrible kick on the Pink ball by Hawkins which looked to have handed O Sullivan the frame , but he couldn`t pot the red ball to the middle pocket which gave Hawkins a reprieve and duly made the most of it this time around. The newly installed World number 9 notched up a 47 clearance to make it 14 - 10 with a frame left in the afternoon session.

O Sullivan then finished the session off with a fantastic knock of 124 to lead 16 - 10 needing just three more frames to take the crown once more.

Play in the evening session started with Barry Hawkins still not giving up hope or rolling over, as he came out for the final session and played like a free man as he there wasn`t any pressure on  him and so produced a very classy knock of 127 to make it 16 – 11.

In frame 27 Hawkins then made a break of 66 as he won the frame 76 - 18 to make it 16 - 12 and thoughts of a unlikely comeback looked on as O Sullivan was spending the early stages of the session sat in his chair as he was helpless due to the brave display Hawkins was producing to keep the World Champion seated as he played a masterful opening frames.

pic: world snooker.com

Just as it seemed like Barry Hawkins was going to make a incredible comeback, Ronnie O Sullivan then extinguished his opponent hopes as he won three consecutive frames on the bounce with the final frame notching up a break of 86 and in the process winning the title and defending it. Making history in the process by becoming only the 3rd man in Crucible history since 1977 when the championship first staged the event to have a player defend his World Championship back to back for the first time since Stephen Hendry back in 1995 – 1996.

Talk before the tournament was of the Rocket quitting snooker as him and the head of World Snooker Barry Hearn haven`t seen eye to eye since Hearn took over and revamped the game.  So this may be the last time we see the Rocket in a World Championships unless an agreement is made or talks between them are sorted out as it would be a real shame to lose one of the most popular showmen and characters of the snooker circuit in O Sullivan.