Amazing Grace fires Rocket out of Northern Ireland Open

Ronnie O'Sullivan became the latest big name to drop out of the Northern Ireland Open after suffering a shock 4-3 loss to David Grace.

It looked like being a routine afternoon for the seven-time world champion when he secured a 2-0 lead, including a break of 62 in the opener.

But the Rocket barely potted a ball in the next three frames as he went completely off the boil, with Grace capitalising thanks to breaks of 57, 94 and 64.

Grace, 37, who has never won a ranking title, offered O’Sullivan a lifeline with a series of poor shots in the sixth frame and eventually it led to his opponent forcing a decider.

But he wouldn't be denied as O'Sullivan failed to fire again in the final frame and the Leeds player secured a place in the round of 32 with two good scoring visits. It was the first time he had ever won a frame against O'Sullivan.

"I got over the line in the end, I made hard work of it," the 37-year-old from Leeds, who reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship in 2015, told Eurosport.

"You don’t normally get a second chance. When I missed the first chance to win 4-2 that’s when normally the snooker gods don’t forgive you, but they were on my side today.

"It was going really bad at 2-0 and I’m proud that I managed to find the cue-ball control to make a couple of breaks in the middle of the match to give myself a foothold.

"When you play the legends they get better when they go in front, they don’t normally give you a foothold so it was nice to be able to give myself a chance."

Grace will play Tian Pengfei in round three after Tian made a break of 55 in the decider to beat Martin Gould 4-3.

The upset follows Judd Trump's exit yesterday to Cork's Aaron Hill.

Trump and O'Sullivan had competed in the final of the event for the