Barry Hawkins admitted he had nothing left to give after Ronnie O’Sullivan picked him apart to reach his third successive World Snooker Championship final on Friday.

Ditton potter Hawkins suffered defeat at the hands of O’Sullivan in the final last year and this time the Rocket tied up a 17-7 semi-final victory with a session to spare.

World No.4 Hawkins was the victim of a number of unlucky kicks but in truth O’Sullivan, who will be bidding for his sixth World Championship title starting Sunday, was rarely ruffled.

And in a third – and what proved to be final – session on Friday, Hawkins concedes he was ready to wave the white flag as O’Sullivan cranked up the style.

“I feel like I have been absolutely, mentally bashed to pieces to be honest with you,” he said. “After the first session I knew it was important to get off to a good start against him and I had a couple of horrendous kicks that cost me a couple of frames.

“I don’t know if the match before took it out of me a bit, I just wasn’t mentally strong enough, I just feel like I was being battered to be fair and I didn’t have much left in the tank to give.

“I tried my best obviously at the end and Ronnie just kept potting silly balls at the end and cuing unbelievable and I just wished it was all over at the end there.

“I couldn’t wait to get out of there. I’ve had a good tournament but I’m pleased that’s over.

“I know last year was tough but this year, a couple of matches that I had, especially the one against Dominic Dale."

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