O'Sullivan quits Berlin

O'Sullivan, who recently pulled out of the Shanghai Masters, has missed 10 out of 12 minor ranking events this season, and Hearn is rapidly losing patience with the controversial former world champion.

"I don't care if Ronnie doesn't play but what he can't do is enter and pull out at the last minute, without very good reason," said Hearn.

"It's his face on all the posters in Germany. It's a very important tournament for us as we try to develop the European market, and an awful lot of people are going to be disappointed he's not there.

"This can't go on. Ronnie's very likeable when he wants to be but he should start considering his future in the game and his responsibilities to it."

O'Sullivan has dropped to 10th in the world rankings as a consequence of his tournament absences this season.

Jack Lisowski 5-2 Luca Brecel
Anthony Hamilton 5-1 Pavel Leyk
Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon 5-3 Tomasz Skalski
Nigel Bond 5-2 Stefan Kasper
Joe Swail 5-0 Hans Blanckaert