When does Ronnie O'Sullivan return to action after Players Championship defeat to Neil Robertson?

ByEurosport

Published 11/02/2022 at 11:15 GMT

Ronnie O'Sullivan described his performance as "not really good enough" in suffering a 6-3 defeat to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship in Wolverhampton on Thursday night. The world No. 2 gets the opportunity to quickly put that disappointment behind him at the European Masters (21-27 February) LIVE on Eurosport in Milton Keynes.

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Ronnie O'Sullivan will be able to quickly put his disappointing defeat to Neil Robertson in the Players Championship quarter-final behind him as moves on to the European Masters (21-27 February) LIVE on Eurosport.

The six-time world champion admitted his performance was "not really good enough" as he suffered a second successive 6-3 loss to Robertson in Wolverhampton, having also succumbed to the Australian player in the Masters last eight in January.

O'Sullivan toiled to replicate the scintillating form of his 6-3 win over Judd Trump in the first round on Tuesday despite contributing knocks of 98, 90 and 50, with a dominant Robertson rolling in 79, 52, 82 and 80 in punishing the errors of his inconsistent opponent.

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“I dragged him down to my level a bit and he missed a few and allowed me to get back into it," said O'Sullivan. "He was much the better player and I just tried to hang in there and see what happened. When you start snatching at shots it’s hard.

“If you don’t cue the ball smoothly it becomes a difficult game. Neil is an incredible cueist and gets through the ball so well.

You have to cue well and play well to stay with that. I was bits and pieces. I suppose that’s what happens later in your career, you get a few more matches that are not really good enough.

O'Sullivan has the chance to atone for his sense of deflation at the European Masters in Milton Keynes when he meets 1995 world finalist Nigel Bond in the first round at 19:00 UK time on February 21.

After his European Masters campaign, the record 38-time ranking event winner will begin his quest for a fifth Welsh Open title when he faces world No. 39 Sam Craigie in the opening round in Newport a week later.

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Both tournaments are LIVE on Eurosport later this month with Northern Irishman and top seed Jordan Brown defending the Welsh Open title he lifted as a 750-1 outsider with a rousing 9-8 final win over O'Sullivan a year ago.

The 31st staging of the Welsh Open at the ICC at Celtic Manor has thrown up several intriguing matches with six-time world finalist Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White drawn against Masters holder Robertson in the first round.