Stephen Hendry claims 'no one can cope' with Ronnie O'Sullivan as he aims to break his record at the World Snooker Championship.
Hendry and O'Sullivan currently have seven world titles each but the Scot says his old rival is putting himself in the best position to make it eight.
The Rocket is through to another final this weekend after beating Gary Wilson in the semi-final of the Tour Championship on Friday.
The best-of-19 match was level at 7-7 before O'Sullivan won three frames in a row to reach the 64th ranking final of his incredible career.
He will play either Mark Williams on Mark Allen on Sunday, with the pair battling it out in their semi on Saturday.
O'Sullivan was not at his best in the opening few frames against Wilson but turned it on when he needed to.
Hendry says the 48-year-old is almost unstoppable when he sees the finishing line ahead of him.
He said on ITV: "He tends to find that gear and no one can cope with it. He did it to Ding Junhui in the UK, 7-7, 10-7.
"He did Ali Carter in the Masters, 7-7, 10-7, three frames in a row. And he did it again tonight.
"When he sees that winning line, he just races for it. It wasn't his best performance today, Ronnie, in terms of cue-ball control and stuff.
"But when you get to that final hurdle, there's no one who can touch him.
"He gets to that stage at the end of a match and you just know he's not going to miss, however difficult the pot is.
"He's surging to the line. He was in complete autopilot. It's just 'Ok, the winning line's there and I'm going for it, nothing's going to stop me'."
O'Sullivan has won five tournaments this season, including the first two Triple Crown events.
He is yet to win all three of snooker's major competitions in a single campaign in his career.
The World Championship begins at the Crucible on April 20 and runs until May 6.
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Hendry says O'Sullivan has got everything in place to break the record they currently share.
He added: "He's won all these tournaments this season but he's had two or three stand-out [wins].
"Ding Junhui semi-final in the World Grand Prix stands out for me as one of the best performances I've ever seen on a snooker table, it was just flawless.
"So he's still having these performances. He's going to be a dangerous animal, not only here in the final but obviously the Crucible, he's going for the eighth world title.
"So I think he wants to get everything together in place, put him in a place that he can do to get him as good as he can be for the Crucible."
Hendry was impressed with Wilson but admitted O'Sullivan was just a level above.
He said: "He was good, he put it up to Ronnie, he made a game of it. But unfortunately, you've got to have the stamina to stick with Ronnie the whole distance.
"All credit to him, he played well today, but ultimately not good enough."
