IT’S BACK to the studio for five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan after crashing out of the 19.com English Open.
The Rocket’s indifferent Crawley form came back to bite him with a shock 4-3 defeat at the hands of Mei Xiwen – missing out on a heavyweight quarter-final showdown with Mark Selby.
O’Sullivan had earlier overcome Iran’s Hossein Vafaei to set up the evening tie but it proved a step too far having stuttered his way through the week to date.
An impressive 134 break highlighted his evening but he was far from at his best, allowing the world No.70 from China to provide one of the best results of his career.
Not that O’Sullivan was too perturbed by his loss, happy to get time on the table ahead of the World Open in China later this autumn.
“He’s a hardened match player. He played well tonight and he deserves his victory,” said O’Sullivan, who will join Eurosport’s punditry team for the rest of the competition. “I missed a few balls but I didn’t do too much wrong. There are no excuses and the better man won.
The Rocket is out 😳@ronnieo147 is beaten by the exceptional Mei Xiwen 👏
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) October 17, 2019
🔴 Snooker on Eurosport:
📺 - Eurosport 1
📱💻🖥 - Eurosport Player: https://t.co/0Fa7uXMVB9 pic.twitter.com/qndEwjh7Sj
“I’ve had a good week. I’ve had four matches which is good practice for me and I just look forward to the next event.
“It’s probably a good result for me because the practice tables will be really quiet now and I can concentrate on that combined with a bit of punditry, which is a good situation to be in.
“I think the China events are the biggest tournaments and if you can win one or two of them your season’s sorted. I’m looking forward to going out there and giving it what I’ve got.”
O’Sullivan was labelled as one of the favourites going into the English Open, but he wasn’t the only big name to be sent packing with shock defeats on day four.
Reigning world champion Judd Trump and world number four Neil Robertson both fell at the last 32 stage early on in the day, but O’Sullivan believes other members of the leading pack will remain in the mix for the title.
“Anything can happen but normally the top players eventually come out and win these tournaments,” he said.
“I could’ve easily won it, but the best man always wins – I’ve said that my whole career. I think everyone wins their matches on merit and that will be the case again.”
Watch the English Open live on Eurosport and Eurosport Player with studio analysis from Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White
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