O'Sullivan - completed hat-trick of UK wins.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan coasted to the UK Championship crown for the third time on Sunday night with a 10-1 demolition of Ken Doherty in York.

The world champion effectively guaranteed victory by building an 8-1 lead in the opening session and needed less than 20 minutes on his return to the arena to wrap up his first title of the season.

It was a mesmerising display by the world number two, who maintained his superb semi-final form against Mark Williams, which he had described as the best of his career.

But O'Sullivan's cause was also helped greatly by a woefully below-par performance from Doherty, who accumulated only 43 points in the last eight frames of the match.

The Irishman committed a series of elementary mistakes which made O'Sullivan's bid to become only the fifth man to claim the world and UK titles in the same year much easier than he could have imagined.

There was little sign of what was to come when, after O'Sullivan had taken the first frame following a straightforward miss on the green by his opponent, Doherty hit a superb break of 95 to make it 1-1.

But the 'Essex Exocet' edged ahead again by knocking in a 72 after Doherty had failed to pot a red along the cushion, and then carved out his own opportunity in the next to compile a magical 106.

After the interval, the Dubliner again let in the world number two to make a decisive 41, and soon it was 5-1 as the 25-year-old from Chigwell sunk a devastating long red and rattled in a run of 72.

The fourth seed's misery continued when O'Sullivan went further ahead thanks to a dashing 62, kicked off by another amazing pot, and then pounced on another loose shot by Doherty to go up 7-1 up with a 49.

Doherty had a chance to pull one back in the final frame of the afternoon but was so demoralised he could not take it, and O'Sullivan hit a 59 with typical aplomb to put himself within touching distance of the crown.

The match continued in the same vein at the start of the evening session with another Doherty error leading to an O'Sullivan break of 66.

By now, the 1997 world champion knew it was all over and inevitably another O'Sullivan half-century wrapped things up, with a 58 putting the trophy beyond the 32-year-old's reach.

The margin of success was the greatest in the UK final since it reverted to a best-of-19 format in 1995, although Steve Davis beat Terry Griffiths 16-3 in 1981.

O'Sullivan admitted the final had been something of an anti-climax and also revealed that when he moved 8-1 ahead, it was the first time during the event that he had allowed himself to contemplate becoming champion.

"It's a fantastic achievement for me to win both the world and UK titles," said O'Sullivan, who was repeating his UK triumphs of 1993 and 1997.

"I'm very proud, but I don't feel anything at the moment. I'm just pleased to win the tournament.

"It didn't feel like a final - it felt like there was something missing. Maybe it's just me, but an anti-climax is the right way to describe it.

"I never thought I'd win this tournament at any stage until I was 8-1 up on Ken.

"I knew it would be a massive task for him to come back because he just wasn't scoring, although I take a bit of credit for that with the way I played.

"I knew how difficult it was for him. He just wasn't seeing it and never got going, which is a shame because it had the makings of being a great match.

"You can't help but feel for him - it was just one of those days for him."

Doherty was "embarrassed" at the scoreline but acknowledged that it had been a good week for him.

"I'm very disappointed to lose 10-1 - it's a bit of a joke for a UK final," said Doherty.

"In some ways I was lucky to get one because Ronnie played so well, but I lost a couple of frames I should have won. In others, I just didn't get a look in.

"In that form, Ronnie is the toughest man to beat. It's very hard to play against him. You must get on top of him and put him under pressure, and I didn't. It just didn't happen for me.

"It's embarrassing to lose 10-1 but it's better to reach the final than go out in the first round. These things happen - worse things go on in life."