The “Thrilla in Manila” captured the world’s imagination but snooker’s version of Ali v Joe has been completely overshadowed by a heavyweight battle at the Crucible in which Ronnie O’Sullivan produced a standard to which Stephen Hendry was not accustomed.

As Ali Carter and Joe Perry continued their relatively mundane struggle to reach the final of the 888.com World Championship, the Sheffield theatre was abuzz with superlatives as O’Sullivan romped through after a 17-6 semi-final win over Stephen .Hendry, the most successful player in the sport’s history.

If Muhammad Ali had been as dominant in the Philippines in 1975, Joe Frazier would surely have been stopped earlier. Of course, O’Sullivan inflicted no physical damage but ruthlessly set about the task of dismantling Hendry’s dream of an eighth Crucible triumph. “That’s the best snooker, and safety, I’ve ever seen,” Hendry, who praises opponents only when appropriate, said. “I’ve never been so comprehensively outplayed in my career. The way Ronnie was hitting the ball was as close to perfection as you can possibly get.”

Leading 4-1 on Thursday, Hendry, 39, looked capable of becoming the oldest world champion since Ray Reardon in 1978. Twelve frames, and a healthy dollop of O’Sullivan excellence later, the undisputed king of the Nineties was groggily on the ropes, trailing 13-4. Hendry has often inflicted such ruthless punishment but has rarely been on the receiving end of such a barrage of brilliance as O’Sullivan demonstrated again that, at the peak of his powers and with his mind on the job, he has no equal.

Having recovered to 4-4 overnight, O’Sullivan went into overdrive. After stealing the tenth frame on the black to lead 6-4, the floodgates opened as he sailed through the next four frames with breaks of 57, 87, 133 and 135, the last two total clearances of sublime quality. During this spell, O’Sullivan compiled 448 points without reply, threatening the records for unanswered points at the Crucible (485 by John Higgins against Anthony Hamilton in 2000), in a world-ranking event (492 by Higgins against O’Sullivan in the 2005 Grand Prix final) and in professional competition (495 by Ding Junhui against Hendry in the 2007 Premier League).

Being pummelled by O’Sullivan is not a new experience for Hendry, who slipped from 6-2 down to 13-2 in the second session of their 2004 Crucible semi-final that ended with O’Sullivan winning 17-4. However, yesterday morning’s 8-0 session whitewash was unprecedented for the Scot at snooker’s most famous venue.

On the resumption in the evening, O’Sullivan was not as clinical. Hendry, fuelled by pride and watched by his 11-year-old son, Blaine, tried his utmost to avoid the ignominy of again losing with a session to spare. But O’Sullivan constructed breaks of 126 and 123 - his fifth century of the match and eleventh of the championship - to cruise into his third world final and leave a resigned Hendry with no answer to his safety, potting and scoring.

“There were spells when I felt totally in control. That’s a beautiful feeling, but a compliment like Stephen has given me means more than anything. My dad will be chuffed to bits by that,” O’Sullivan, whose father, Ronnie Sr, has served 16 years of a life sentence for murder, said.

Although a supporting act to O’Sullivan, Carter, the No 14 seed, fought back from 5-3 down to lead Perry 9-7 overnight. Carter, hoping to reach a world-ranking event final for the first time, compiled breaks of 51, 56, 106, 64 and 128. Yet whoever advances faces a formidable task in the final. The bookmakers have installed O’Sullivan at odds of 1-6 to collect the £250,000 first prize.

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