Ronnie O’Sullivan was forced to overcome a determined fightback from Anthony McGill before clinching his place in Sunday’s English Open final.

Ronnie O’Sullivan. Picture by Monique Limbos

The five-times world champion stands just one win away from winning his 29th career major ranking title after an entertaining 6-4 victory over the Scot earlier tonight.

O’Sullivan will play Kyren Wilson hoping to win the £70,000 cash jackpot and lift the Steve Davis trophy for the first time.

For most of this week O’Sullivan has coasted through the tournament with only John Higgins in the last 16 encounter the only man to push him close.

And it seemed that the second semi-final was going to be a completely one-sided affair when breaks of 62, 52 and 77 saw him move into a 3-0 lead in no time.

World number 16 McGill, who beat Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals, then managed to win a crucial frame just before the interval to give him a slight chance of pulling off a memorable win.

However, O’Sullivan restored his three-frame advantage in stunning style after the restart with a break of 139 to go 4-1 ahead.

But McGill refused to give in and to his credit produced a gutsy fightback to keep his slim hopes alive. Back to back frames reduced his deficit to 4-3.

O’Sullivan then won a close fought eight frame on the black to move within touching distance of victory.

But the Scot refused to go away as a break of 71 kept him very much in the contest at just 5-4 down.

However O’Sullivan clinched the match in typical fashion with an effortless break of 133.

O’Sullivan has only played Wilson once before in a major ranking event and that occasion saw the Kettering star win 4-3 in last year’s Northern Ireland Open. The match was a cracker as O’Sullivan hit three century breaks in consecutive frames to come back from 3-0 down and force a decider.

But it was Wilson who prevailed as the winner with a break of 70 in the crucial final frame.

The Barnsley faithful on Sunday will be hoping for another intriguing and exciting contest.