Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered a shock exit within the World Snooker Championship quarter-finals as he was overwhelmed 13-10 by Stuart Bingham.
The pair started the ultimate session of their last-eight conflict on Wednesday night locked at 8-8 and the close-fought nature of the competition continued throughout the primary 4 frames.
However after the mid-session interval, 2015 world champion Bingham reeled off three consecutive frames to ship O’Sullivan crashing out and arrange a semi-final with qualifier Jak Jones, who had triggered a significant upset earlier within the day by defeating world No 2 Judd Trump.
“For me, it’s been a great tournament now I’ve started getting through the ball, which is the most important thing,” O’Sullivan informed Eurosport after his defeat. “Tournaments, victories, losses – irrelevant really.
“You simply wish to be having fun with the sport, so for me there was loads of progress. I misplaced a snooker match tonight, Stuart deserved the victory as a result of he performed rather well.
“I tried to fight, I hung in there for as long as I could, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Coupled with David Gilbert’s 13-8 win over Stephen Maguire, it means three qualifiers have reached the semi-finals for the primary time for the reason that first 12 months the match was staged on the Crucible in 1977.
Kyren Wilson, who faces Gilbert within the different semi-final, is the one seeded participant left standing after he noticed off four-time world champion John Higgins 13-8.
Bingham is thru to the semi-finals on the match for the third time in his profession and was revelling within the second after his victory over O’Sullivan.
“It’s unbelievable,” Bingham informed Eurosport. “I enjoyed every second of it, even when I was 8-6 down…and something clicked.
“I felt calm on the market, I used to be loving each second of it. I am going toe-to-toe with the most effective participant ever and looking out round, that is good.”
O’Sullivan: Some referees have it in for me
O’Sullivan claimed some referees “have it in for me” after a bizarre incident midway through the second session of his World Snooker Championship quarter-final against Bingham.
O’Sullivan was initially praised for an act of sportsmanship after seeming to play safe rather than opting to pot a red close to the black because he believed the black had not been spotted correctly.
The seven-time world champion repeatedly asked referee Desislava Bozhilova to replace the ball because he believed it was rolling fractionally off its spot, incorrectly giving him an opportunity to pot it.
World No 1 O’Sullivan, who was 14 points behind at the point and on a break of 20, eventually lost the frame but was hailed for his gesture, with former world champion Neil Robertson, commentating on the BBC, calling it “the best little bit of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen”.
O’Sullivan was concerned in an incident with referee Desislava Bozhilova throughout his match with Bingham
Nevertheless, O’Sullivan offered a distinct tackle the incident, telling Eurosport: “To be honest with you, some of the refs, I think they’ve got it in for me, so I just wanted to prove to her that she got it wrong.
“I did not be ok with potting the ball after that, however I simply needed to make the purpose. The purpose was made. I am not that hungry to win it in that method, so as soon as the precept’s been made I can sleep at evening.”
Bozhilova, 31, has refereed on the skilled tour for 12 years, and officiated within the respective Masters and UK Championship finals in 2022.
The WST refuted O’Sullivan’s allegations and insisted Bozhilova acted accurately all through the incident.
