Ronnie O’Sullivan won the first ranking event of the new campaign last night in Belfast, as he was crowned Northern Ireland Trophy champion.

The world champion and number one, who ended last season by capturing the World Championship for a third time, defeated Stoke’s Dave Harold 9-3 at the Waterfront Hall.

O’Sullivan has now won 21 ranking titles, seven short of Steve Davis, with Stephen Hendry out in front on 36. It is the third time that O’Sullivan has won back-to-back ranking events. It was he who was the last player to achieve the feat when in 2004 he won the World Championship and Grand Prix.

Harold, 41, had been aiming to win his second ranking title 15 years after his first, the Asian Open. He could have become the oldest winner of a significant title since Jimmy White captured the 2004 Players Championship, also at 41.

Stoke qualifier Dave Harold reached the final of the Northern Ireland Trophy with an upset 6-4 victory over two-times world champions John Higgins in the semi-finals on Saturday having eliminated Stephen Maguire, the defending champion, 5-2 in the quarter-finals.

O’Sullivan won