Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered a surprise 4-2 defeat at the hands of world No. 64 He Guoqiang as he crashed out of the English Open in his very first match.
The Rocket, often vocal about his lack of desire to play snooker tournaments in the United Kingdom, was fresh off a stint in China and Saudi Arabia but returned to Brentwood in front of his home crowd.
The seven-time world champion curiously decided to play large portions of the match with his weaker left hand, proving costly as he suffered a surprise defeat.
He launched into a quick 3-0 lead to put many on alert at the possibility of one of the tournament’s favourites in O’Sullivan going home early.
However, the 48-year-old clawed back the next two frames with his back against the wall. But in the sixth and final frame, a poor safety from O’Sullivan allowed He to return to the table without a safe ball in play.
The Chinese potter promptly took advantage and picked up his second win over O’Sullivan this year, keeping his perfect record against snooker’s greatest-ever player. He whitewashed the Englishman during the Championship League in June also.
O’Sullivan became the second big-name casualty of the day in Essex, after Mark Williams suffered a 4-1 defeat to Ben Woollaston earlier in the afternoon.
And the Rocket opened up on his usage of the left hand last time out in Saudi Arabia. He has always been considered one of the best players of all time with his weaker hand, but upped his shots even more at the English Open.
He promised to put the left-handed shots “on the backburner” after defeat in the Middle East, but went back on his word in the very next tournament.
Asked about his performance with his left hand, he quipped: “Not great. I’ll put it on the backburner a bit. I haven’t had no feel for it (snooker) for about two years now, it’s been really difficult to sort of get enjoyment from it, it’s been tough, so I decided to start playing a bit of left-handed.
“It frees me up a bit, I enjoy playing and I can actually practice, so for me it’s just anything to get my cue out of the case, then when I’m in a match I’ve got to do anything to compete.
“But it’s not pretty, it’s not good, I am not flowing but what can you do? You have got to go with what you have got ain’t you?”
