Pundit Stephen Hendry took aim at Ronnie O’Sullivan after an ‘extraordinary’ kick saw him miss a simple pot at a crucial point of his Tour Championship semi-final with Gary Wilson. With the score tied at 4-4 in the first frame back after the interval, O’Sullivan led 40-0 when he lined up what looked like a simple red.
Despite needing to rest one leg on the side of the table, there seemed no chance of the ‘Rocket’ not doing the inevitable. Instead, he was way off target as the white ball took a huge ‘kick’ as he made contact.
The reaction spoke volumes, with the crowd gasping as the ITV4 commentator shouted: “What an explosive kick. Shaun Murphy suffered one a number of years ago and it went viral, that was equally extraordinary.”
Hendry wasn’t quite so sympathetic though, instead pointing to the chalk used by his old rival. “Yeah that was horrible,”he said. “It’s bad luck but the sympathy I’ve got with him is tinged by the fact he still uses the old chalk that no one else uses.
“The new chalk you just don’t get kicks. Ronnie is persisting with the old triangle chalk and the whole rest of the tour basically know it’s no good. So it’s a risk that he takes but you still have to say – very unfortunate just when he looked as if he was going to take the frame. It was a walloping kick.”
It wasn’t long before Murphy himself was reacting. The clip was posted online by ITV Snooker, with the ‘Magician’, clearly referencing his own mishap that was cited on commentary, with a ‘hand over face’ emoji.
It proved a crucial miss in the context of the match though. Wilson duly took advantage to clear up and move into a 5-4 lead in the best-of-10 encounter, having trailed 4-2 earlier in the afternoon.
But O’Sullivan responded in the next frame to level the contest. And a match that had already hit the headlines in the opening session is set for an exciting conclusion.
Wilson had been 4-2 down before fighting back, having shocked fans by slamming his cue down three times following a simple miss in the fifth frame. He was also a victim of a controversial foul call, with replays suggesting the referee had made a mistake.
