Ronnie O'Sullivan coasted to the UK Championship crown for the third time last 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 attempt 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 O'Sullivan 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. 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.

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 said afterwards: "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.

Doherty was "embarrassed" at the scoreline: "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.

"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."