Ronnie O'Sullivan beaten by Chang Bingyu after frustrating performance in Wuhan Open semi-finals

Ronnie O'Sullivan has been knocked out of the Wuhan Open after a dismal 6-3 defeat to China's Chang Bingyu in the semi-finals.

O'Sullivan has been clear all week that he's struggling with his game and labelled it a "disease" despite beating Mark Selby in the quarter-finals.

The seven-time world champion stated he's been playing with "zero confidence" and those words came true in a frustrating performance against rising star Bingyu on Friday.

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A scrappy opening frame from both players set the tone for the remainder of the match but Chang came out on top, then produced a break of 73 to take an early 2-0 lead.

O'Sullivan appeared to be finding his mojo as he responded with a frame-winning break of 82, before snatching the fourth frame to make it 2-2 at the mid-session interval.

However, O'Sullivan failed to take two good chances to win the next two frames, missing routine blacks off the spot, which Chang punished to move 4-2 in front.

O'Sullivan won frame seven but more safety and positional errors allowed Chang to comfortably get over the line to leave 'The Rocket' seething, at times, with his mistakes.

"I will see out the next 18 months and see how we go. I don't want to throw the towel in just yet. I've committed to playing until then," said O'Sullivan, whose next tournament is likely to be the Shenzhen Open at the end of September.

"I want to give myself a chance. I'd hate to finish my career on performances like that."

The 50-year-old, widely regarded as the greatest snooker player of all time, has not won a ranking title since January 2024 and was aiming to reach just his second tour final in 2026.

Last month, O'Sullivan stated he had set himself a deadline to win a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship by the 2028 edition and revealed he will retire from the sport if required to play qualifying matches.

Players ranked outside of the top 16 are required to play qualifiers for most tournaments but O'Sullivan's run to the semi-finals in Wuhan will likely mean he remains in the top 16 for at least another half season.

"I'm going to give it a really good go to try and cure the disease. It's easier to call it a disease, I suppose. If I can, that'd be great," he said.

"But I think 18 months is a fair amount of time to try and unlearn it and maybe try and find some flow because if I play alright and cue alright, I know I can still win tournaments.

"I don't think the competition's that good, and I don't think I've got that bad. I'm just not cueing the ball well, so the balls are just not doing what I know they should be doing, or what I used to be capable of doing."