Ronnie O'Sullivan to remain world No. 1 as Ryan Day's British Open snooker title defence ends in defeat

ByEurosport

Updated 28/09/2023 at 09:03 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan will begin his quest for the English Open in Brentwood next week as world No. 1 after Mark Allen's hopes of taking over at the top were dashed by Kyren Wilson in a 4-0 defeat in the British Open last 32. Meanwhile, Ryan Day's quest to defend his title in Cheltenham ended with a 4-2 defeat to Ali Carter, who will meet Xiao Guodong or Sanderson Lam in the last 16 on Thursday.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan will head into the English Open before his home crowd in Essex as world No. 1 (live on Eurosport and discovery+) after UK champion Mark Allen lost 4-0 to Kyren Wilson in the British Open last 32 on Wednesday.

Allen needed to claim the £100,000 first prize on Sunday night to topple O'Sullivan from the summit of the rankings, but crashed out in the third round as breaks of 112 and 121 helped Wilson set up a last-16 meeting with Barry Hawkins on Thursday afternoon.

Allen scored only one point in the first three frames, and a knock of 54 in the fourth was not enough to prevent the whitewash.

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World champion and the sport's No. 2 player Luca Brecel is only 5,000 points behind O'Sullivan in the latest rankings, while Allen remains 45,500 points off top spot in third place.

O'Sullivan withdrew from the tournament on medical grounds after edging out Brecel 11-9 to win the Shanghai Masters last week.

Meanwhile, defending British Open champion Ryan Day – who defeated Allen 10-7 in last year's final – is out of the competition after losing 4-2 to German Masters holder Ali Carter just before midnight on Wednesday evening.

In a forgettable match, Carter top scored with a break of 98 on his way to leading 3-1 before claiming a scrappy sixth frame to scramble over the line.

He will meet Xiao Guodong or Sanderson Lam in the last 16 of the season's third ranking event.

2006 world champion Graeme Dott drubbed Ashley Carty 4-0 to set up an encounter with Iran's leading player Hossein Vafaei, while Ding Junhui enjoyed the same winning scoreline against Julien Leclercq.

1999 British Open champion Fergal O'Brien showed his enduring class by winning the final two frames against Matthew Stevens with breaks of 55 and 75 to secure a meeting with Jack Lisowski or Matthew Selt, who are both involved in next week's English Open.

World No. 14 Lisowski faces Stevens with the English Open matches involving the rest of the world's top 16 held over to the finals venue at the Brentwood Centre as Mark Selby defends the title he claimed last season courtesy of a 9-6 final win over Brecel.

Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan has been handed an opening encounter with Welshman Andrew Pagett on Monday afternoon at 1pm (UK time).

Brecel will take on rookie Stan Moody, the world junior champion, while there is an intriguing match between John Higgins and Marco Fu, who made a 147 in the final frame of a 6-5 win over Higgins in last year's Hong Kong Masters semi-final.

Selby opens against Xing Zihao, while new European Masters champion Hawkins confronts Anthony Hamilton.

The English Open is part of the Home Nations Series and will be broadcast on Eurosport and discovery+ from October 2-8.