Ronnie O'Sullivan has crashed out of the UK Championship having been beaten 6-5 by the lowly-ranked Alexander Ursenbacher in Milton Keynes.
Winner of this event in 2017 and 2018, O'Sullivan would have held high hopes of claiming an eighth UK crown after breezing past Leo Fernandez in the first round, but he was a long way below his best just a few days later, struggling for fluency throughout as he turned in a ragged display.
O’Sullivan told Eurosport: “He played really well, he deserved his victory. I think I did well to get five frames, I think the scoreline flattered me to be honest – it should have been 6-1, 6-2 really.”
Asked if he was tired, O’Sullivan said: “No, I’m not making any excuses” and added: “He kind of kept giving me chances and I got back into it, but really he was much the better player. My performance just wasn’t good enough to beat someone that plays that well.
“I’ll probably have to sleep on it and have a think about it because I don’t really know what happened out there other than I’m out.”
Ursenbacher would have been delighted to lead 3-1 at the break despite failing to surpass a high-break of 67 in frame one as both players were guilty of simple missed pots and some lapse positional play.
O'Sullivan did return to claim the fifth frame, but when Ursenbacher got the better of a scrappy frame six, he gave himself some breathing space as he led 4-2.
To his credit, O'Sullivan kept plugging away and with the help of his opponent, managed to win the next three frames in a row to turn the match on its head and put himself within a frame of victory.
In frame 10, Ursenbacher again failed to make the most of a golden opportunity when in first, but when O'Sullivan missed a relatively straightforward cut to the bottom corner pocket, the Swiss this time made no mistake to take the match to a deciding frame.
O'Sullivan displayed no emotion when watching Ursenbacher sink a terrific long red to kick off the decider, but after he broke down with the frame still live, O'Sullivan cut a frustrated figure when another poor safety shot finally sealed his fate and confirmed Ursenbacher’s second win over the Rocket, having also triumphed in their match at the Welsh Open last year.
Ursenbacher said: “That was a very big test for me – I knew I could beat him in a best of 11 and I had absolutely nothing to lose so I had to fancy the job.
“Ronnie is a great, great player so you know what you’re up against, but I just tried to treat it like a practice match and focus on the next ball.
“My goal was just to play Ronnie, and this has opened so many doors for me that my goal is to win it now.”
Selby and Bingham fire warning shots
2012 and 2016 UK Championship winner Mark Selby stepped up on his battling first-round win with a smooth 6-1 defeat of Liam Highfield.
Selby was at his rock-solid best throughout as he put together breaks of 95, 75 and 69 and despite Highfield making a fine century in frame three, it was generally one-way traffic thereafter.
Fresh from his 147 maximum break on Wednesday, Masters champion Stuart Bingham reeled off breaks of 79, 55, 74 and 64 in his 6-1 trouncing of Andrew Higginson while Lu Ning was in splendid form in his 6-0 whitewash of Matt Selt.
Ning made four centuries in succession before finishing the job with a run of 86 to book his place in the last 32 where he will be joined by Kurt Malfin, a 6-5 winner over Jamie Clarke, and Graeme Dott, who beat Mark King 6-4.
No joy for Joyce in Wilson clash
Kyren Wilson won four frames on the spin as he galloped into the third round courtesy of a 6-2 win over Mark Joyce.
Joyce was in there pitching when drawing level at 2-2 thanks to breaks of 74 and 79, but Wilson stepped up a gear after the mid-session interval, a break of 97 inching him back into the lead before he took the next two frames to bring the winning line in sight.
Joyce appeared likely to pull a frame back when in first in frame eight with a run of 59, but he failed to kill off the frame and Wilson picked his pocket with a ruthless clearance of 62 to close out the match.
On a weekend of big shocks, former champion Shaun Murphy was humbled by Elliot Slessor who registered a notable 6-1 victory.
Things looked to be going to plan when Murphy dominated the opening frame, but his game unravelled as the evening wore on and Slessor ran out a convincing victor.
The Gateshead native knocked in two centuries in a near-faultless display to take control of the contest and he finished the match with a cool clearance to the black, a nerveless straight blue putting Murphy out of his misery and setting up a last-32 meeting with Lu Ning.
Elsewhere, Mark Williams hinted at a welcome return to form when seeing off Sunny Akani 6-2 while there were good wins for Jack Lisowski and Joe Perry.
