Snooker results: Barry Hawkins beats Ricky Walden to reach second big final of 2022

Hawkins was thrashed by Neil Robertson in the final of the Masters last month but could now get the chance for revenge, with the Australian a warm order to beat namesake Jimmy Robertson on Saturday night.

If it is to be a repeat of their meeting at Alexandra Palace, Hawkins may need more than he showed in a comfortable but unconvincing win, though he did all he had to do to see off a below-par Walden, who went to pieces after a missed pink in frame two cost him a 2-0 lead.

To Hawkins' credit, he got better as the game went on and a 115 break in frame six restored his two-frame lead while setting him on course to complete the job, as Walden's litany of errors proved costly.

Walden appeared set to halve the deficit to 4-3 when potting a brilliant, long-range green despite hampered cueing, but in a neat summary of his performance as a whole, his next shot was a bad miss with the rest.

That allowed Hawkins to pull three frames clear for the first time and though Walden had come from 5-2 down to shock Mark Williams in the previous round, there appeared no realistic prospect of a repeat this time.

And so it proved, Walden again making a poor mistake at the start of frame eight to hand Hawkins a match-winning opportunity which he took, with the effective match-ball red one of his best, and evidence that the closer he got to the winning line, the better he appeared to play.

To win the final, Hawkins may need the brilliance of his come-from-behind victory over Yan Bingtao earlier in the tournament. To win this, all he had to do was show up and play a solid game of snooker. That's exactly what he did.

Referring to the Walden miss in frame two, Hawkins confessed: "Even though it was only the start of the match it was a massive turning point. He looked odds-on to win it and missed the pink, I made a good little clearance and it put him out of his rhythm a little bit, he struggled from then on.

"The first frame he looked confident, then I nicked that second frame and it really did unsettle him. To be honest, my concentration wasn't great tonight, I missed a few balls, but I felt good towards the end."

Asked who he'd rather play on Sunday, the lower-ranked Jimmy or his Masters conqueror Neil, Hawkins added: "It doesn't matter, I'm in the final. I've got a day off, I'm going to relax, let them sweat it out.

"Obviously Neil's a big favourite against Jimmy (but) it would be great if Jimmy won, he was almost off the tour last season and has done unbelievably to get himself back into this position."