Ronnie O'Sullivan loses 13-12 to Barry Hawkins in World Snooker Championship
Thursday 28 April 2016 18:14, UK
Ronnie O'Sullivan's fightback was all in vain in a thrilling 13-12 second-round defeat, as 'The Rocket' was dumped out of the World Championship by Barry Hawkins.
Hawkins had started Monday's evening session nervelessly, producing a pair of solid clearances to move one frame from victory at 12-9.
In typical fashion, O'Sullivan responded with his fourth century of the match, a clearance to pink of 124, to reduce the deficit to 12-10.
And he raised hopes of a maximum in the next, as a run of 11 reds and 11 blacks earned him a break of 88 and took him to within one frame of levelling the match.
He duly did so when he capitalised on a Hawkins error to roll in a break of 63 and force the final frame in front of a captivated audience at the Crucible.
After a long period of safety play which left reds scattered across the table, Hawkins fashioned a superb break of 56 to take control in the decider.
With reds strewn everywhere, O'Sullivan trailed 57-1 and set out on what would have been a stunning rescue mission before going in-off to hand Hawkins the chance to confirm victory.
Hawkins - who lost to O'Sullivan in the 2013 final - kept his cool and rattled in the next few decisive balls with the dejected five-time world champion barely able to look on.
O'Sullivan said: "I fancied my chances but when a frame goes like that it's a bit of a toss of a coin and if there was a weakness in my game it was definitely on the tactical side.
"I was second best in 90 or even 100 per cent of every frame that went like that, and if it wasn't won in one visit I probably lost all of them. I feel like a golfer birdying 15 holes but taking triple-triple bogeys on three holes."
Quarter-final line-up:
Ding Junhui v Mark Williams
Kyren Wilson v Mark Selby
Alan McManus v John Higgins
Marco Fu v Barry Hawkins
