91Èȱ¬

Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised into the semi-finals of the Masters tournament with a 6-0 whitewash of Ricky Walden at Alexandra Palace.

He took only 58 minutes to seal his place in the last four, including a 134 break in the fourth frame.

The world champion will meet Stephen Maguire, who beat Neil Robertson 6-2, in Saturday's semi-final.

"I don't know what I can do this afternoon - I suppose I can go and pick up the kids now," said O'Sullivan.

His display was all the more remarkable after Walden led the opener following a break of 38, which prompted O'Sullivan's frame-winning reply of 79.

That started O'Sullivan off on an incredible run of 556 points without reply to set a new snooker record, beating the previous best of 495 that was set by Ding Junhui in 2007.

Former world champion and 91Èȱ¬ pundit Ken Doherty described it as "probably the best performance I have seen from anybody in all the years I've been coming to the Masters" and sympathised with the outclassed Walden, who scored 39 of the first 40 points but nothing thereafter.

But O'Sullivan said: "That's snooker. I've been on the receiving end numerous times, when you just sit there as a passenger.

"I have been trying to put a few hours in on the practice table because I wasn't happy with my form over the last five or six weeks and this is a busy part of the season."

His stunning performance followed O'Sullivan's impressive start to the tournament, when he dropped only one frame in his first-round victory against Robert Milkins.

Walden, the world number 11, admitted he "took a real good beating" and described his opponent as "unplayable".

"That is the first time I have ever felt absolutely helpless on a snooker table," he said. "I scored 35-odd points in the first frame and didn't really see a ball for the rest of the match."

Maguire also made an impressive start against world number one Robertson and claimed a 3-0 lead before losing the next two, only to re-establish his dominance by winning the next three to earn a semi-final showdown against in-form O'Sullivan.