Ronnie O’Sullivan perplexed English Open spectators as he bit the tip of his snooker cue off during defeat to Zhang Anda. It was a disjointed performance and the Rocket’s frustrations were made clear throughout, before taking that anger out on his own cue.
O’Sullivan faced a tough battle against Zhang, one of four Chinese players to make the quarter-finals, with the pair sharing the first four frames in his second match of the day – having already beaten Si Jiahui earlier in the previous session.
But some movement in the crowd at Brentwood appeared to unsettle the seven-time world champion, before making some rash decisions that were not typical of O’Sullivan despite getting the benefit of a fluke in the fifth frame when his missed red went into the pack and another red luckily went into the middle pocket.
The 47-year-old was unable to take advantage, however, as he lost that frame and Zhang was just one more victory away from a huge upset against the world No 1. He then took that chance by making a break of 116 while O’Sullivan was not happy once again with those in attendance.
After pointing out that spectators were moving during the frame to referee Ben Williams, with O’Sullivan saying that it looked like a “sponsored walk” in the arena, the Rocket later returned to his chair after missing a red that he thought should have been potted.
With Zhang back at the table he cleaned the rest up. And O’Sullivan, watching on in his seat, surprisingly chewed on the tip of his cue. The Eurosport commentators noticed the surprising reaction to defeat by O’Sullivan, before the camera spotted that the tip had been bitten clean off and fell onto the floor.
He has not yet explained why he felt the need to bite off the top of his cue tip in reaction to the defeat, but will now need to find another on short notice ahead of next week’s Wuhan Open when he takes on Ken Doherty in the first round on Monday.
He will take some comfort in the fact that he remains top of the rankings despite the defeat, as Luca Brecel also crashed out of the tournament in a 4-3 loss to Ding Junhui. The Belgian needed to reach the semi-finals to overtake O’Sullivan, but will get another opportunity in Asia.
O’Sullivan has recently admitted that he focuses more on events in China and does not care as much about being world No 1, but was clearly peeved enough against Zhang.
