Ronnie O'Sullivan crashes out of Welsh Open in whitewash loss to Tian Pengfei, defeat ends Players Championship hopes

A below-par Ronnie O’Sullivan was sent crashing out of the Welsh Open by Tian Pengfei, dashing his hopes of reaching the Players Championship in the process. O’Sullivan has had a tough time on the table in Llandudno, with his tip falling off on three occasions earlier in the tournament.

Ad He beat Ben Mertens in the previous round with his cue staying in good order, but he did not look fully settled and that appeared the case again in his quarter-final with Tian who grew in confidence to secure an impressive win. Welsh Open'Age is not important' — O'Sullivan tells 'unbelievable' Mertens to embrace pressure18 HOURS AGO The opening two frames went Tian’s way in worrying fashion for O'Sullivan fans and after the Chinese player took a scrappy third, he grew in confidence and took the match to book his place in a ranking semi-final for the first time in his career.

O'Sullivan needed a run to the final to secure a place at the Players Championship, but will now have to fall back on some exhibitions to sharpen his game. 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 Tian set his stall out by playing an extremely attacking safety in the opening frame to open the reds up and pile pressure on O’Sullivan.

The four-time winner of the event had no route back to baulk so took on a red, but missed by a distance and Tian was rewarded for his endeavour as he crafted a break of 66. As in the opener, O’Sullivan missed a red to the bottom left by a distance at the start of the second and further misses were to follow.