Ronnie O'Sullivan was whitewashed by Zhao Xintong in the second session of their World Championship semi-final on Friday morning after making the decision to alter his cue
Ronnie O'Sullivan was whitewashed by Zhao Xintong on Friday morning
Ronnie O’Sullivan’s quest for a record eighth Snooker World Championship title took a major blow as he lost eight straight frames against Zhao Xintong. The Rocket started Friday morning level at 4-4 with his Chinese opponent, but was out of sorts as Zhao produced some stunning snooker to take a commanding 12-4 lead.
O’Sullivan has reached the final four at the Crucible despite not playing any competitive snooker since January. He has shown glimpses of his best, but he has regularly complained of a lack of confidence, stemming partly from his struggles with his cue.
The 49-year-old snapped his cue in frustration earlier this year and is yet to get comfortable with his current one. He changed his cue tip for the first session in the semi-final and then made the decision to have his ferrule – the metal sleeve behind the tip – addressed yesterday.
It was a call that surprised six-time champion Steve Davis and was called “extraordinary” by BBC present Hazel Irvine. Whether it had anything to do with his poor performance on Friday morning was unclear, but Zhao showed no mercy, completing a clean sweep up with some sparkling clearances to become the fourth person to win a session 8-0 against O’Sullivan at the Crucible.
Legendary commentator John Virgo said it could be a “changing of the guard” on commentary, while John Parrott praised his opponent. “This has been absolutely brilliant from Zhao Xintong,” Parrott, the 1991 champion, said on the BBC.
“We are used to giving the man sat in the chair the plaudits but this has been absolutely fabulous from Zhao. Ronnie has not been at the races but boy has Zhao played well.”
Ken Doherty, another world champion, added: “We've seen Ronnie O'Sullivan do this to opponents, but now the shoe is on the other foot. Ronnie is probably a little bit embarrassed about what's happening out there. He's not fighting. He could have come to the table and played some snookers but is not bothering and that's worrying.”
The match will resume at 7pm on Friday evening, when O’Sullivan will have to launch a dramatic comeback to avoid defeat. Zhao compiled breaks of 112 and 115 as well as five other half-centuries in the morning and will return full of confidence.
The 28-year-old knows he needs to win five of the eight frames on Friday evening to reach the winning number of 17 and get the match done without returning on Saturday. The winner of the match will face either Judd Trump or Mark Williams in the final this weekend.
O’Sullivan has been open in his praise of the Chinese players and has mentored Zhao at times in the past. He was one of 10 players from China sanctioned in a match-fixing scandal, having accepted charges of betting on matches and of being a party to another player fixing two matches.
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