Of all those guilty of overusing and thereby diminishing the word “genius”, snooker commentators are surely the most culpable, true serial offenders.

Yet in one instance they are correct. In reaching the final of the world championships with breathtaking ease, Ronnie O’Sul-livan has confirmed his status as the best player there has ever been, and reminded us that at the height of his inexplicable powers, which is where he presently resides, he is untouchable.

Unless O’Sullivan’s tendency towards self-destruction suddenly reappears, and there has been no sign of it this fortnight, the final will be a celebration, not a contest. Ali Carter beat Joe Perry 17-15 last night and will meet O’Sullivan in the final. It is Carter’s first significant final as a professional and for all the fortitude he showed in beating Perry, and the fluency of his break-building, he has little chance. O’Sullivan’s game has no weakness at present and Carter’s opportunities will be limited.

The most valid testimony of O’Sullivan’s performance came from the second best player of all time, Stephen Hendry, who put aside the pain of a semi-final beating that amounted to humiliation, to pay tribute. “His all-round game was the best I’ve ever played against,” Hendry said when the match finished on Friday evening with a session to spare. “Every time he played safe I had no shot. And whenever I missed he just cleared up. It was awesome and I was helpless. He’s the best in the world now by a country mile.”

One measure of that country mile is the fact that Hendry had rediscovered something of the form that won him seven world titles, and probably would have beaten anyone else. He also opened their match with a break of 140 and established a lead of four frames to one. After that, he was reduced to stupefaction, losing 12 frames in a row and the match by 17-6.

Carter’s match with Perry was much more exciting, with each man taking turns to fight back and falter. Since neither had reached the semi-finals before, the standard was commendably high, but a long, long way short of O’Sullivan’s.

When O’Sullivan won his second world title in 2004, he reached a level of all-round play never previously achieved. In tactical cunning, he was at least as good as Steve Davis, who ruled the 1980s. In break-building, he matched the brilliant certainty of Hendry, who ruled the 1990s. That, we assumed, was as close to mastery of the game as could be imagined, but O’Sullivan is better.

He touched perfection against Hendry but, as usual, struggled with explanation. Indeed, he had to make comparison with his dark times to try to make sense of it.

“How I’m still playing the game I don’t know,” O’Sullivan said. “I fell out of love with it because I wasn’t able to produce the shots, couldn’t pot a ball, even in practice. I know what I’m capable of and when I can’t do it I get frustrated, but when everything comes off, it’s beautiful.”

O’Sullivan hinted that all would be revealed in a forthcoming book, but there is no mystery. On the negative side, he suffers depression and has a tendency towards addiction, and his father, to whom he is very close, has been imprisoned for many years; on the positive side, he is a perfectionist, but one whose ability is primarily instinctive.

Hendry and Steve Davis, O’Sullivan’s predecessors among the greats, can give master classes in technique, but O’Sullivan cannot. He used to try to help Ronnie Wood, the Rolling Stones guitarist who is a close friend. “Ronnie’s not a bad player,” O’Sullivan once said. “It’s his dream to make a century break, and I’ve tried to give him lessons, but it’s difficult because I don’t really know how I do it myself.”

No wonder O’Sullivan suffers frustration. It comes and goes and there’s no method, or effort by which he can be sure to keep it under control.

Right now, though, Ronnie’s on a roll and that means he’s unstoppable.

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