Ronnie O’Sullivan has been eliminated from the World Snooker Championships after being beaten 13-10 by Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The seven-time world champion was heavily backed as the favorite going into the match, but after the pair drew level at 8-8 in the final session of the match, Bingham pulled away from the world number 1 to wrap up the match. by claiming the last three frames.
It was a rollercoaster of a match, with the seven-time world champion also praised for his sportsmanship by 2010 world champion Neil Robertson after a bizarre incident in which O’Sullivan asked the referee several times to replace the black.
Afterwards O’Sullivan said: ‘I enjoyed the tournament, for me it was a great tournament.
“I’ve really come through the ball, which for me is great in wins and losses in tournaments, and you just want to enjoy the game. For me, a lot of progress has been made. I lost a snooker match tonight. Stuart deserved the win, he played really well, I tried to hold on, but it wasn’t to be.”
Asked if he had trouble with the speed of the table, he added: ‘No, you just have to adapt. Stuart adapted better than me, he made the bigger shots, better breaks and I just tried to hang in there and let him fight for it.”
Despite missing out on the semi-finals of the tournament and a shot at his record-breaking eighth world title, the British snooker player still feels he has plenty to look forward to in his career.
‘Next week I will play in China. I’m playing Ding in a series of challenge matches in China. Then I go to Finland. I don’t know who I’m playing against there; they haven’t decided yet which player will play there. But I’m really excited and I’ve still got a lot of snooker to play, so I’m looking forward to that.”
“I just want to be happy while playing,” he added. ‘There is also a lot to look forward to.’
More to follow…
