Ronnie O'Sullivan 'didn't turn up' in Players Championship loss to Neil Robertson, says Stephen Hendry

Stephen Hendry said Ronnie O’Sullivan «didn’t turn up» after he was beaten 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship by Neil Robertson. O’Sullivan was unable to reproduce the impressive performance that saw him past Judd Trump in the previous round. Ad/> The Rocket missed several balls as he fell 4-1 behind against Robertson, who looked in good touch from the start.

Players ChampionshipRobertson beats O'Sullivan again to make Players Championship semi-finals2 HOURS AGO Even though O’Sullivan managed to claw his way back to 4-3, Robertson pulled away and secured his place in the last four of the tournament. “Ronnie just didn’t turn up,” said seven-time world champion Hendry on ITV “Neal Foulds made a point on commentary that Ronnie is not putting two or three of those performances together in a row is he? Robertson beats O'Sullivan to make semi-finals Players Championship 2022: Scores, schedule, draw “The first frame was quite slow and he doesn’t like that side of the game.” O’Sullivan was also beaten by Robertson in the quarter-finals of the Masters last month. “He was good,” admitted O’Sullivan.

“I dragged him down to my level a bit and he missed a few and allowed me to get back into it. He was much the better player and I just tried to hang in there and see what happened. When you start snatching at shots it’s hard.

“If you don’t cue the ball smoothly it becomes a difficult game. Neil is an incredible cueist and gets through the ball so well. “You have to cue well and play well to stay with that.