Ronnie O’Sullivan described his performance as “embarrassing” as he beat Stuart Bingham to reach the final of the World Grand Prix in Coventry.
Both players struggled but O’Sullivan did enough to win 6-2 and set up a final meeting with Neil Robertson on Sunday.
It is the first ranking final of the season for the six-time world champion.
“We both stunk it out. We were both really, really poor,” O’Sullivan told ITV4.
“We looked like a couple of old club players. That’s what it felt like. Really embarrassing, but there you go, sorry about that.
“I felt for Stuart. You could see he was struggling and honestly we looked like a couple of butchers out there, just butchering everything all over the gaff.”
Bingham took a scrappy opening frame but missed a simple red that would have put him on the verge of a 2-0 lead, and O’Sullivan capitalised with a break of 62 to level proceedings.
Further mistakes from Bingham saw O’Sullivan hit the front as breaks of 51, 56 and 77 helped to establish a 5-1 lead before his opponent closed the gap with a 78 – the highest break of the match.
Despite a break of 60 in frame eight from O’Sullivan, Bingham looked set to reduce arrears even further when his rival blundered, but then he missed the final black off its spot.
O’Sullivan, who won this event three years ago, took his opportunity to tidy up and secure the win – his first against a top-16 player in a ranking event for nine months.
But he knows he must improve ahead of Sunday’s best-of-19 showdown against the Australian world number four.
“If I don’t get my finger out or find something, I’ll probably get blasted away,” O’Sullivan admitted. “I’d be happy to get a couple of frames playing like that.
“You never know, I could stink the gaff out, drag him down to my level and he could go. I doubt it. He’s a bit too good for that. He’s in his prime. He’s cueing really well, best cueist I’ve ever seen.”
Bingham, the 2016 finalist, lamented his performance, saying: “I’m just gutted. He had a bit of luck here and there, a few little flukes and the rub of the green, but I had more opportunities and I just couldn’t take them.”
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