Ronnie O'Sullivan knocks out Ding Junhui at Shanghai Masters

Ronnie O'Sullivan of England beat Ding Junhui of China 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals in east China's Shanghai Municipality on Thursday, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament.

The 48-year-old defending champion recorded five breaks of more than 50, including one of 131 in frame seven, to beat Ding.

O'Sullivan's opponent in the semifinals on Saturday will be his compatriot, world No. 2 Judd Trump, who defeated Si Jiahui of China 6-2 on Thursday.

The other semifinal will take place between two English men as well. Mark Selby eliminated Pang Junxu 6-3 to face Shaun Murphy who knocked out Zhou Yuelong of China 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Having extended his winning streak at the Shanghai Masters to 21, O'Sullivan is on his way to pocketing his fifth straight title of the tournament.

"I'm trying to see if there's an appetite for me to go over and play pool at some point," O'Sullivan said. "I can't keep playing snooker against the young guys, getting up for it, match-in-match-out, I don't want to be playing just for the sake of it. I want to keep playing for the next 10-15 years, earning a living, having a good time."

"I feel like I'm one positional shot away every time, one bit of cue ball control from really scoring heavily," Murphy said. "I've not had any centuries yet in the 12 frames that I've won in the Shanghai Masters at the moment, I just keep making 60s, 70s and 80s and I suppose that's good enough."

"But I think I'll need a bit more than that to get past my next opponent, up against my good mate Mark Selby. We've had so many good matches over the years. Best of 19 semifinal out here, center stage, it's not going to be one to miss," he added.