Ronnie O'Sullivan 'has just bitten his cue tip off!' - Star's frustrated reaction in English Open loss to Zhang Anda
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Published 06/10/2023 at 07:49 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan couldn't hide his frustration as he suffered a last-16 defeat to Zhang Anda in the English Open. The world No. 1 allowed movement in the crowd at the beginning of the fourth frame at the Brentwood Centre to disrupt his game, and his opponent took full advantage by completing a 4-2 win. But before the conclusion of the match, O'Sullivan had already bitten his cue tip off.
'O'Sullivan has just bitten his cue tip off!' - Watch moment star reacts to losing to Zhang
Ronnie O’Sullivan is out of the English Open and will have to replace his cue tip after removing it with his teeth during the defeat to Zhang Anda on Thursday night.
O'Sullivan was the latest big-name casualty in Brentwood as he suffered a 4-2 defeat to the world No. 57.
The turning point in the match came at the beginning of the fourth frame when some movement in the crowd upset O'Sullivan, who told referee Ben Williams that it looked like a sponsored walk was taking place in the arena.
Subsequently, O'Sullivan lost his composure as Zhang capitalised with a break of 97. A frustrated O'Sullivan then watched as the underdog claimed the next two frames to wrap up an impressive victory.
But before the conclusion of the match, O'Sullivan had already forcibly removed his cue tip.
"O’Sullivan has just bitten his cue tip off!” exclaimed Philip Studd on commentary for Eurosport.
“He had made noises about replacing it in the near future anyway."
Studd added: "But tonight is Zhang Anda’s night, what a performance.
"He would rate this as his best ever performance given the opponent, given the fact that he's on television and matching his best ranking performance. It's hard to imagine that he's played better than this."
O'Sullivan has history for removing his cue tip with his teeth after he performed the action in the Welsh Open in February this year, during a whitewash defeat to Tian Pengfei.
It has been a rollercoaster week for the world No. 1 at the English Open. The 2017 champion struggled with an elbow injury and was clearly fatigued during his first-round win over Andrew Pagett after winning a race against the clock to arrive in Essex in time following an exhibition match with Jimmy White in Hong Kong.
He made short work of Jackson Page but described his performance as "awful" as he saw off the challenge of Si Jiahui earlier on Thursday.
However, O'Sullivan will remain as world No. 1 for at least another week after Luca Brecel joined him in losing at the last-16 stage.
O'Sullivan is expected to be back in competitive action in the Wuhan Open, which will be the first ranking event held in mainland China since Judd Trump won the World Open in November 2019.
He faces veteran Ken Doherty in the opening round. The event takes place from October 9-15.
- - -
Stream top snooker action, including the English Open, live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement