Ronnie O’Sullivan out of Six Red World Snooker Championship as Ding Junhui reaches last four, Judd Trump suffers exit
Updated 09/03/2023 at 15:04 GMT
Ronnie O’Sullivan lost to Ding Junhui 6-2 in the last 16 of the Six Red World Championship, ending his hopes of a third invitational title this season. Ding won four frames in a row to romp away from O’Sullivan, who almost certainly has just one more ranking event, the WST Classic, on his schedule before he defends his world title at the Crucible next month, live on discovery+ and Eurosport.
'One of the best escapes I've seen' - Ding makes 'sensational' pot
Ronnie O’Sullivan is out of the Six Red World Championship after he was beaten 6-2 by former winner Ding Junhui in the last 16 before the Chinese icon continued his solid form by progressing to the semi-finals of the Bangkok invitational event.
Masters champion Judd Trump will also be missing from the final stages after suffering a 6-5 defeat to Hossein Vafaei in the last eight that saw Trump somehow miss a straight match-ball brown on the cusp of a 6-4 success.
O’Sullivan had previously stated he was targeting the £100,000 first prize on his competitive debut in the shorter format at the Thammasat University Convention Centre in Pathum Thani, but missed some crucial shots which saw the match slip away after levelling at 2-2.
World No. 24 Ding is aiming to emulate his 2016 Six Red title victory and later completed another comfortable 6-2 win over 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham – the man he defeated 8-7 in the final seven years ago – in the quarter-finals.
He will face Tom Ford in the semi-finals on Friday (11:30am GMT LIVE on discovery+ and Eurosport) after the Leicester man resisted a spirited comeback by 2019 finalist John Higgins, who levelled at 5-5 from 5-0 behind before the German Masters finalist held his nerve to dominate the decider with a 67 break to advance.
Thai speed merchant Thepchaiya Un-Nooh kept alive his bid to claim a second Six Red crown on home soil after his 8-2 dismissal of Liang Wenbo in the 2015 final courtesy of a 6-2 triumph against Zhang Anda in his quarter-final.
Un-Nooh will meet Vafaei in the last four (8am GMT LIVE on discovery+ and Eurosport) after the attacking Iranian professional edged out Trump 6-5 in a nervy encounter that saw both men battle the pressure as much as the occasion.
Trump had led 5-4 and 36-17. The former world No. 1 just needed brown ball to leave his opponent needing snookers, but missed match clincher with the tension mounting.
Vafaei slotted brown, blue and pink before missing a tricky black along the top cushion to force the final frame. Trump then threw in a dreadful safety shot that saw his opponent slot black to claim the frame against the odds.
Vafaei made good on his great escape by holing a long red from a loose safety shot before producing a classy closing 61 run as his opponent was left to rue squandering a golden chance in defeat.
The semi-finals on Friday are contested over the best of 13 frames before a best-of-15 frame final on Saturday (8am GMT).
Latest Six Red World Championship results
Quarter-finals
- Hossein Vafaei 6-5 Judd Trump
- Zhang Anda 2-6 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- Tom Ford 6-5 John Higgins
- Ding Junhui 6-2 Stuart Bingham
Last 16
- James Wattana 4-6 Zhang Anda
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-2 Dechawat Poomjaeng
- Hossein Vafaei 6-3 Noppon Saengkham
- Judd Trump 6-3 Mark Williams
- Chris Wakelin 3-6 Tom Ford
- Joe Perry 2-6 John Higgins
- Stuart Bingham 6-0 Ricky Walden
- Ronnie O’Sullivan 2-6 Ding Junhui
Ding punishes O'Sullivan errors
Ding – who whitewashed O'Sullivan 6-0 in the UK Championship quarter-finals in November – made a fast start against the Rocket by pocketing the opening frame with a 70 break after capitalising on a poor escape shot from O’Sullivan.
The world champion won a lengthy second frame that lasted 20 minutes, a long time in the six-red format, but Ding soon restored his lead with a couple of scoring visits.
O’Sullivan was fighting out there and a 33 in frame four made it all square again, before two big moments saw the match go Ding’s way.
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'One of the best escapes I've seen' - Ding makes 'sensational' pot
At 31-8 up in the fifth frame, O’Sullivan just needed the black off its spot to leave Ding requiring snookers, but he missed it.
Ding cleared all of the balls up to the final black, went for an ambitious double, which went wide to leave a black ball battle.
A long safety exchange went the way of the Chinese player after he doubled the black once again and sank it into the bottom right pocket to go 3-2 up.
It was a similar story in the next frame as O’Sullivan missed frame ball again, this time a red near the left cushion.
Ding stepped in and cleared the table to go two clear and won two more close frames to seal the win.
Last 16: Trump defeats Williams in repeat of Masters final
Elsewhere in the last 16, Judd Trump had defeated Mark Williams 6-3 in a scrappy match to secure a meeting with against Hossein Vafaei on Table 1 in the quarter-finals, after the Iranian knocked out home favourite Noppon Saengkham.
In an all-Thai battle, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh prevailed 6-2 against Dechawat Poomjaeng with Zhang Anda completing a 6-4 win over crowd favourite James Wattana.
John Higgins’ good form continued as he had a 6-2 victory over Joe Perry with Tom Ford a 6-3 winner against Shoot Out champion Chris Wakelin.
Stuart Bingham had whitewashed Ricky Walden 6-0 in the final last-16 match to secure his meeting with Ding.
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