‘He didn’t want that!’ – Ronnie O’Sullivan stitched up by own fluke at English Open, then sends white flying

Ronnie O’Sullivan was stitched up by his own fluke during a pivotal moment in his English Open clash with Martin Gould on Thursday.

The Rocket was already up against it in the third-round match in Brentwood, trailing 2-1 and by 37 points in the fourth frame – with only 35 left on the table – when he got a horrible slice of misfortune.

Knowing he needed a snooker to win the frame, O’Sullivan elected to play safe off the last remaining red to try and force an error. What he didn’t legislate for was the red skimming off the pink and finding the bottom pocket.

“Oh, he didn’t want that,” bemoaned 1986 world champion Joe Johnson on Eurosport commentary. “That’s one thing he didn’t want.”

O’Sullivan now had no choice but to attempt the trickiest of pots on the blue down the table. Although he fizzed it into the bottom pocket, it came at the expense of the cue ball, which flew off the table and onto the arena floor.

“A dramatic finale to frame four,” said Philip Studd as O’Sullivan conceded the frame.

He could only find the jaw of the centre pocket, a miss he was left to regret as Gould returned to pinch the frame.

“I had a few chances… if I was to sit back and watch that, a little inch on that cue ball in the first frame when I was on a 60-odd [break], I ‘Chinesed’ myself,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport afterwards.

“I’m never ones for ifs and buts, the ball landed where it landed, but another day I get through there, could win tonight, could be sitting here Sunday the champion of the English Open. It’s just fine margins.”

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