Ronnie O’Sullivan has suffered a shock defeat in the last 32 of the International Championship, losing 6-4 to rising Chinese star Pang Junxu.
The 24-year-old turned in a very impressive performance to beat the seven-time world champion, including potting all 15 reds and blacks in the penultimate frame before his maximum attempt ended on 120.
The Rocket was dialled in and did not play poorly, making breaks of 83, 81 and 59 in the defeat.
Pang certainly deserved the victory, though, with efforts of 85, 73 and a brilliant final-frame effort of 123 to round things off in some style.
It is a disappointing outing for O’Sullivan in Nanjing after pulling out of a string of events before this one and his wait for a title this season continuing.
The 48-year-old has managed semi-final runs at the Shanghai Masters and Xi’an Grand Prix, so it has hardly been a disastrous season, but it has been under-par by his high standards.
The world number 26 has beaten O’Sullivan before but only in the Championship League, with this victory a huge step up from that result.
Pang goes on to play Jackson Page in the last 16 after the Welshman secured a good 6-4 win over Ali Carter, having downed Dave Gilbert by the same scoreline in the previous round.
While clearly an upset against arguably the greatest player of all-time, Pang has impressed regularly since turning professional in 2020 and been to a ranking final at the 2023 WST Classic.
He has already qualified for the Crucible twice and showed good form recently as he reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open last month, beating the likes of Luca Brecel and Neil Robertson en route.
John Higgins has also booked his place in the last 16 thanks to a 6-1 romp over Matthew Stevens, which included a high break of 133.
Shaun Murphy suffered something of an upset defeat, though, losing 6-3 to Chris Wakelin, who made two centuries on his way to downing the former world champion.
Higgins will meet either defending champion Zhang Anda or Lyu Haotian in the next round, while Wakelin faces Mark Williams or Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
More to follow…
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