Ronnie O'Sullivan bites tip off cue as he crashes out of Welsh Open to Tian Pengfei

A frustrating week at the Welsh Open ended with a whitewash defeat to Tian Pengfei, and Ronnie O’Sullivan bit the tip off his cue before departing the scene. O’Sullivan had to battle against adversity in Llandudno, as his tip came off mid-match on three occasions. Ad It came off for a fourth and final time on Friday, but it was nothing to do with him striking the cue ball.

Welsh OpenO'Sullivan crashes out of Welsh Open in whitewash loss to Tian2 HOURS AGO The world champion had a poor day at the office, as his all-round play was way off the mark. Tian took full advantage as he wrapped up a 5-0 win — O’Sullivan’s second whitewash defeat of the season. With Tian on the brink of wrapping up the win with a break of 73, the Eurosport cameras panned to O’Sullivan — resigned to missing out on qualification for next week’s Players Championship — just at the moment he chomped down on his cue to rip the tip off.

Murphy powers into semi-finals of Welsh Open with victory over Yuan 'I felt like Neo from the Matrix' — Murphy blown away by 147 and 145 breaks “The tip comes off and is no longer,” Neal Foulds said in the Eurosport studio. “You think of the journey Les Dodd had, 80 miles there and back, it counts for nothing. “It should not take away from Tian Pengfei, he won.” Jimmy White had some further insight on O’Sullivan’s cue, which is set to go to renowned cue manufacturer John Parris for remedial work.

“He was speaking to John Parris who is in Barbados on holiday, and he said he needs a new ferrule, not just a new tip,” White said. “We think the tip kept coming off because the ferrule was not level. “I know that if he did not qualify for the tournament next week (Players Championship) the cue was being sent to John Parris on