O'Sullivan wins UK Championship

Ronnie O'Sullivan, who won his first UK Championship title at the age of 17, added a third last night when he overwhelmed Ken Doherty 10-1 at the Barbican Centre.

The 25-year-old world champion, winning his 23rd professional title in his 32nd final, became only the sixth player - after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, John Higgins and Mark Williams - to do the double at world and UK level in the same year, and by pocketing a first prize of £100,000 became only the fourth - after Davis, Hendry and Jimmy White - to go past £3m in career prize money.

O'Sullivan said afterwards: "I tried to be as ruthless as possible. I've come to realise you've got to have the right approach. I'm proud of how I played and it's a great achievement but I don't feel as if I've been involved in a final. Anti-climax is the word, I suppose."

Only four days earlier he had been on the verge of elimination before summoning an irresistible surge to overcome Peter Ebdon from four frames down with five to play, and he maintained that form in making dashing centuries of 107, 142 and 131 on his way to a 9-6 victory over Williams in Saturday's semi-final.

Doherty should have won yesterday's disjointed 30-minute opening frame only to lose it by leaving a dolly of a short-range pink just short of the pocket after failing, for positional reasons, to make it drop on its last roll.

He did equalise with a break of 95 but once he had missed a testing red on 34 in the third frame and lost it to O'Sullivan's 72 he spent most of his time as a chair-bound spectator.

O'Sullivan's 106 carried him to 3-1 and a total of 267 professional centuries, only 13 fewer than Davis, whose career has lasted more than twice as long, although Hendry, on 545, should top this list for several more years.

Doherty, who missed several sitters as he grew disheartened, managed only 23 points in the last six frames of the afternoon as O'Sullivan added breaks of 41, 72, 62, 49, 59 and 46 against minimal opposition. A mere 16 minutes' play was required in the evening as O'Sullivan made breaks of 66 and 58 in completing a nine-frame winning streak. Doherty had scored only 43 points in the last eight.

Doherty admitted: "Playing someone like Ronnie, you've got to get on top of him and put him under pressure, but I lost a bad first frame and when you miss a few and the other guy's playing so well you're right under pressure."

He can at least reflect that he walks away with £54,000 and is still getting married in Melbourne on December 28 to Dr Sarah Prasad, an Australian-born psychiatrist who practises in Dublin.

O'Sullivan's best is now better than anyone else's but he is at the mercy of deep depressions that can attack him for no apparent reason.

He played brilliantly in the British Open two months ago until, 10 minutes into his semi-final against Graeme Dott, he suddenly gave the impression that a light had been switched off inside him. Even after listlessly conceding two frames he might still have won, but went on to lose 6-4. He then made a maximum 147 break in the LG Cup at Preston but could not sleep and felt low next morning. That evening he lost 5-4 to Ebdon.

Though none of this can be pleasant for him, such volatility, combined with a colourful life away from the tables, contributes to the star quality of this flawed genius.