SNOOKER LEGEND RONNIE O’Sullivan’s hopes of an eighth Masters title disappeared today when he suffered a 6-1 thrashing by Antrim man Mark Allen in the quarter-finals.
The 42-year-old — the sport’s greatest drawcard — has been suffering from dizzy spells although it didn’t prevent the quintuple world champion whipping Marco Fu 6-0 in the previous round.
Allen, though, seized control in a dynamic performance coming from a frame down to surge into a 4-1 lead with some deadeye potting putting together four breaks of over 50 including one of 115.
Although O’Sullivan — who has hinted he may not compete at the world championships this year as he says it is his least favourite tournament — led 35-1 in the seventh frame 31-year-old Allen fought back to take it and reach the semi-finals for the third time.
'What a performance, what a snooker'
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) January 18, 2018
A remarkable day of snooker.
Mark Allen has beaten defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 pic.twitter.com/7QRSI5mfeg
“I’m struggling, I don’t know what it is, a virus or something and I was having dizzy spells,” said O’Sullivan.
“It was a tough match for me. I can just rest up and get ready for my next event. Mark deserved his win, I didn’t give him much to make him struggle. You have to give people credit and he had a fantastic performance.
I’m glad it is over. I don’t make excuses and I had to show up, if I was a footballer I would probably have missed this game but it is an individual sport so you have to turn up.
“If I was to pull out and say I was under the weather, I would have been in hot water with World Snooker so it wasn’t worth the aggravation. I’m not an excuses man but I’ve got double-vision, I’m dizzy and I’m struggling to be honest with you. ”
Allen, the world number eight, will play either John Higgins or Ryan Day in the semi-finals on Saturday.
'Looking forward to getting in there and doing some punditry.'
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) January 18, 2018
Ronnie is trying to look at the positives of his defeat to Allen. pic.twitter.com/H0sgby5eWm
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