Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan (WS-2) is surprisingly eliminated in the eighth finals of the World Cup snooker. The six-time world champion went down in a decisive frame against Scotsman Anthony McGill (WS-16). It became 13-12.
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O’Sullivan was energetic from the starting blocks on Thursday and took a 4-1 lead with breaks of 81, 105 and 138. In the sixth frame, he made a rare mistake, pocketing the last red ball and saw the cue ball disappear into the pocket. McGill then cleared up and also won the last two frames of the session.
On Friday, ‘The Rocket’ and ‘The Smiling Assassin’ will continue their duel. McGill was in good shape. He won six of the eight frames and took a 10-6 lead into the evening session.
‘The Rocket’ is no quitter and came all the way back into the match by taking the first four frames, good for 10-10. O’Sullivan did that thanks to a break of 97 and this fantastically difficult pot on a red ball.
McGill, who was still a semi-finalist last year, fought back, however. With a beautiful break of 136, the Scot forced an all-deciding 25th frame. In it, O’Sullivan seemed on his way to victory, but the six-time world champion was stuck at 42 points. McGill took over and remained calm. He even took a break of 85 points.
