Ronnie gets back on the winning trail in Derby - 04/10/2007

Assembly Rooms, Derby
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Steve Davis
O'Sullivan's scores first
105-0 (O'Sullivan 105), 141-0 (O'Sullivan 141), 96-24 (O'Sullivan 96), 75-41 (O'Sullivan 55, Davis 36), 0-147 (Davis 143), 4-87 (Davis 42, 39)

RONNIE O'Sullivan turned on the style to get back on the winning track with a 4-2 victory over Steve Davis in the 2007 PartyBets.com Premier League Snooker.

O'Sullivan had won the Premier League Snooker title for the last three seasons but was struggling in the 2007 PartyBets.com campaign with two defeats in his opening three matches.

But he returned to form with three breaks over 90 in the opening three frames to dominant the crucial part of the match. With the game already lost, Davis did manage to win the last two frames and scored a break of 143, the best ever in the history of the 25-second shot clock.

"I needed to get a good result to stop the rot," said O'Sullivan. "All week I've been watching old videos of Steve and Stephen (Hendry). Steve is a class act to still be going for as long as he has done.

"He is still a top player in the world and can still win tournaments."

O'Sullivan showed why he is regarded as one of the best break-builders of all time as he raced his way through the first two and recording a century in both of them.

He smashed 105 in the opener then hit 141 in the second as Davis lost the opening two frames without scoring a point.

The 141 was the same total as O'Sullivan recorded last week in Plymouth against Ding Junhui, a total that is the joint highest break ever made with the 25-second shot clock in effect.

It nearly became three successive centuries for the Rocket but he missed a crucial red after a total of 96. Davis, who had done little wrong, finally registered some points as the scoreboard showed 96-24 with O'Sullivan already 3-0 up.

Davis made 36 in the next but O'Sullivan was soon back at the table and a 55 made it 4-0 to the Rocket.

The quality of play at Assembly Rooms, Derby was some of the finest we had seen in the 2007 PartyBets.com Premier League Snooker.

Davis recorded the fourth, and highest century break of the night, with a stunning 143 after O'Sullivan had gone in-off to give The Nugget his chance. He then claimed his second frame to secure £3,000 for the night, but for his sake could not gain any points.