Tag: Shaun Murphy

Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the Northern Ireland Open, having already withdrawn from the British Open and Wuhan Open in recent weeks; Seven-time world champion last featured at the English Open in September

Seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open due to medical reasons, the World Snooker Tour (WST) has announced.

O’Sullivan was due to face Long Zehuang in the last 64 in Belfast on Monday afternoon, but announcement from WST on their website confirmed he had pulled out of the event.

China’s Long receives a bye to the last 32, with the tournament at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast running until October 27th.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from three consecutive events due to medical reasons

O’Sullivan hasn’t featured since being knocked out of the first round of the English Open last month after a shock defeat to He Guoqiang, where he describing his performance as “awful” and “embarrassing”.

It is the third consecutive tournament that O’Sullivan has withdrawn from, having also skipped the British Open and Wuhan Open in recent weeks. He is next due to feature at the International Champions event in China from November 3-10.

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Ronnie O’Sullivan says if the World Snooker Championship was relocated to Saudi Arabia then he would find the tournament more convenient as a player

Trump makes winning start in Belfast

World No 1 Judd Trump began his title defence with a 4-0 win over Ishpreet Singh Chadha needing just 49 minutes to whitewash his opponent with the aid of breaks of 72, 65 and 112.

“It was easy to get up for this event,” said Trump, who has won the event four times in the last six years. “Certain venues seem to be made for snooker. Anyone who has played in the semis or final at the Waterfront [Hall] knows how special it is.

“It’s similar to Alexandra Palace or the Tempodrom in terms of the size of the crowd and the way people react. I thrive on that atmosphere with people enjoying themselves. It helps me show off and play my best shots.”

Trump will face Matthew Selt in the last 32 after Selt defeated Lyu Haotian 4-1, while World Championship runner-up Jak Jones beat Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 and Zhou Yuelong recovered from 3-1 down to oust Dominic Dale 4-3.

Northern Ireland’s Jordan Brown suffered a 4-2 defeat to Robert Milkins, while 18-year-old Stan Moody made breaks of 108 and 105 before beating Ryan Day in a decider.

Louis Heathcote also came through in a decider in a scrappy contest against former world champion Mark Selby, whose 81 in the first frame was the only break over 50 by either player.

Stuart Bingham beat Scott Donaldson 4-1 in a similarly low-scoring contest, while China’s Pang Jungxu made a break of 98 in the decider as he beat compatriot Yuan Sijun 4-3.

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John Higgins reaches 1,000 career centuries but is knocked out of the English Open; Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone

John Higgins became only the second snooker player to reach 1,000 career centuries despite crashing out of the English Open in Brentwood.

The 49-year-old Scot achieved the milestone with breaks of 108 and 105 in the third and fifth frames of his quarter-final clash against Mark Allen.

But it was not enough to seal a win that would have boosted his hopes of staying in the top 16 as Allen – who hit a century of his own in the opening frame – held firm in a gruelling decider to edge a 4-3 win.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only other player to have reached the four-figure century milestone, having done so in the final frame of his 2019 Players Championship final win over Neil Robertson.

Earlier, Judd Trump set up a quarter-final clash with China’s Wu Yize after hitting back from behind to claim a 4-2 win over Fan Zhengyi.

The world No 1 nudged one closer to joining O’Sullivan and Higgins in the thousand-century club as he reeled off a break of 101 in the course of winning three frames in a row to extend his winning run.

Mark Selby held his nerve to carve out a 4-3 win over Si Jiahui and book a last-eight meeting with India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who also overcame a final frame decider against China’s He Guoqiang.

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Three-time world champion Mark Williams beaten 10-9 by 2023 semi-finalist Si Jiahui at the Crucible; Welshman’s exit means six seeds have now fallen in the first round so far; Ronnie O’Sullivan begins bid for eighth title against Jackson Page on Wednesday afternoon

Mark Williams’ quest for a fourth World Snooker Championship title ended in the first round as he lost a last-frame thriller to 2023 semi-finalist Si Jiahui.

Sixth seed Williams – world champion in 2000, 2003 and 2018 – led 5-4 after Monday’s opening session but then found himself 8-5 down as Si reeled off four frames in a row on Tuesday afternoon.

The 49-year-old then recovered from 9-7 down to force a decider but his Chinese opponent, 21, knocked in a nerveless break of 77 in the 19th frame to secure a second-round meeting with fellow qualifier Jak Jones.

Si lost to Luca Brecel in the 2023 semi-finals in Sheffield

Williams’ exit takes the number of seeds eliminated in the first round to six, with defending champion Luca Brecel, four-time winner Mark Selby, Ali Carter, Gary Wilson and Zhang Anda also dispatched.

O’Sullivan plays first match on Wednesday afternoon

Williams was hoping to become the oldest champion in the tournament’s history, a record held by Ronnie O’Sullivan, who was 46 years and 148 days when he won the most recent of his seven Crucible trophies in 2022.

O’Sullivan begins his bid for an outright record eighth world title against Jackson Page at 2.30pm on Wednesday, with that match then concluding from 1pm the following day.

Jak Jones is Si’s second-round opponent this year after he beat 11th seed Zhang Anda at the weekend

Si led Luca Brecel 14-5 in last year’s semi-final, only to lose the match 17-15 as Brecel won 12 of the next 13 frames in a Crucible-record comeback.

Si’s clash with Williams was viewed as one of the ties of the first round, with Williams winning the previous tournament on the calendar, the Tour Championship in Manchester.

Williams, 49, defeated Judd Trump, Mark Allen and O’Sullivan – the top three players in the world rankings – in successive matches to claim his second ranking title of the season, after the British Open in Cheltenham in October.

Dominic Dale is playing at The Crucible for the first time in 10 years

What else happened on Tuesday?

Elsewhere, 2020 finalist Kyren Wilson surged into an 8-1 lead over Dominic Dale.

Dale, who is the oldest player at this year’s competition at the age of 52 and playing at the Crucible for the first time in 10 years, had one moment to cheer against Wilson – a sublime 120 clearance.

World No 17 Jack Liswoski leads seventh seed and 2016 finalist Ding Junhui 5-4, while Mark Allen romped into a 7-2 advantage over Robbie Williams.

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