Ronnie played very well against Jackson Page on day3, but couldn’t reproduce that form on day 4. He managed to win by 4-2 against Si Jiahui in the afternoon, but bowed out of the tournament in the evening, beaten 4-2 by Zhang Anda.
O’Sullivan recovered from a slow start to beat Crucible semi-finalist Si Jiahui 4-2. China’s Si made a 101 in the opening frame and went on to lead 2-1, but crucially missed chances in frames four and five. That allowed O’Sullivan to go 3-2 ahead and he sealed the result with a 78 in the sixth to earn a tie with Zhang Anda.
WST also shared some more images of that match
The following videos were shared bu Eurosport on their YouTube channel
Frame 4 … Si was leading 2-1 at that point
The final frame
Despite non playing well at all, Ronnie fought well and had a very positive interview with Alan McManus after that match. Despire branding his performance “awful”, he insisted that he wants to play, and still loves to play and compete.
World number one Ronnie O’Sullivan suffered a shock 4-2 defeat against Zhang Anda in the last 16 of the BetVictor English Open, while World Champion Luca Brecel was also knocked out, losing 4-3 to Ding Junhui.
Thursday night’s results mean that O’Sullivan hangs on to the official world number one position for at least another ten days. Brecel could have gone above him with a run to the semi-finals, but instead he’ll have another chance to gain top spot at next week’s Wuhan Open.
Shanghai Masters champion O’Sullivan looked on top of his game on Wednesday when he made three centuries to beat Jackson Page, but he had to battle to get past Si Jiahui on Thursday afternoon, before his run was ended by world number 57 Zhang. China’s 31-year-old Zhang is through to the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the fourth time in his career and will hope to reach his first semi-final when he plays Zhou Yuelong, who beat Ali Carter 4-1.
O’Sullivan led 2-1 but his opponent then dominated, firing breaks of 97, 50 and 116. Zhang said: “I played well tonight, my break building was good and I did not make serious mistakes. I felt a bit nervous at the beginning but I was pretty settled after the first frame. I took some extra time lining up the last few shots, thinking about the winning line. From 2-1, Ronnie missed a few and went for a couple of shots when he could have played safe instead, which offered me chances.
“I have won matches recently in qualifiers, playing well, so generally I feel good. The best players are used to the feeling of winning as a habit. I’m getting a bit of that and want to keep this going.”
And one images shared by WST
Towards the end of that match, Ronnie continued to attack, when it could have been wiser to be more cautious, especially a Zhang is extremely reliable in the balls. But there may have been reasons for that, other than the fact that he didn’t particularly like the venue. Playing two matches in a day, only a few hours apart, can be though, especially when players get older. Mark Selby was far from impressed with WST matches scheduling earlier in the week and it’s not like Selby to complain publicly about venues and schedules. In that light, this defeat may prove to be a blessing in disguise, as Ronnie can now travel to Wuhan, without having to rush. I expect him to give it 100% there
As already mentioned by WST, Ronnie will stay World number 1 after this event, as Luca Brecel also lost yesterday.
And there we go again with the “shock defeat” thing. There is no shock defeat. Yes, it’s a bit of an upset, by Zhang is a very capable player. His short stature means that he struggles with some types of shots, but if you leave hin in the balls, he’s extremely reliable. This is a guy who, at 17, played Hendry at the Crucible and only lost in a deciding frame.
11 thoughts on “The 2023 English Open – Ronnie wins and looses on Day 4”
I think it is a bit of a myth by now that Ronnie does not care about the Home Nations. Yes, best of 7 is not the best for him and he criticized the venues bitterly, but 2 years ago he was in the semis of the English and 3 seasons ago he was in the final of 3, even though that was in good Milton Keynes, not in any of the offensive venues. 🙂 But in general he performed well. Last year his results were quite bad, but they were like that in most (all?) of the ranking events. Granted, he got older and maybe more selective. I take Cristian’s point about frustration, but have to admit that after his magnificent performance against page and the very upbeat, although not so spectacular victory against Si, the attitude which Grump also described was not particularly pleasant to see. But we’ll see what happens in Wuhan.
As to snooker’s future, Monique commented a lot about Stan Moody and I think I would be interested in discussing that a little more, but maybe later.
Personally, I think this was a much better result for Ronnie than I was expecting. He took for first few rounds much more seriously than he normally does at a Home Nations event, and played some good stuff.
There wasn’t much point in making it deep into the draw, however, with the more lucrative and prestigious Wuhan Open scheduled to start so soon. I would be more inclined to “read much more into” Ronnie’s performance at the Wuhan Open than his performance at the English Open.
I will expect Ronnie to take the same approach in Wuhan that he took in Shanghai, and I will be surprised if that doesn’t happen…
Despite Ronnie hates the Home Nations venues overall this event was more han just the 1/8 final for Ronnie…
Well, Ronnie lost and that is unfortunate, and I certainly did not expect this, but it was more worrisome that after looking very upbeat and interested in the tournament, he just wen the other way, looking upset, sitting and holding his head in the chair, biting off his tip (again), so a complete turnaround after a seemingly very positive attitude.
There are two ways to look at this Csilla. You don’t get frustrated or upset unless you care, right? If it doesn’t matter to you, why would you get angry or frustrated?
That is the better way of looking at it. It is just mood swings that worry me.
That I’m afraid won’t change, and no matter how much Ronnie has improved in managing his mental health, he’s bipolar and that won’t go away.
I know, but this is why it is worrisome, especially happening so quickly at least for a spectator. And it is bad to see emotions getting the better of him and maybe ruining his chances: after all, he showed commitment and some magnificent, other times gritty play in this tournament. OK, this is not the most important event in the calendar, so no particular harm done, but it is in general worrisome, even though one needs to accept that this is the way it is. 🙂
Csilla, I think it did not “just” go the other way. It was a long day (with having an injury), then he was annoyed by spectators, as a result of that all he did get frustrated in the end not only by these things, but also because he is such a perfectionist and he just knew he should have finished it off earlier to give himself more rest. So maybe just don’t look at it as being something worrisome, it was unfortunate, but it wasn’t as if he abandoned everything that he had been taught by Steve Peters. It wasn’t like it was when he walked out on Hendry. The concentration was just gone.
While Zhang was still in his break, I was made to watch O’Sullivan grimacing, yawning, looking all around bored, and finally biting off his tip and tossing it on the floor. I’d have preferred not to see any of it, but the TV crew thought otherwise. I didn’t really care who won that thing, but thought that, for his sportsmanship, and his calm and meticulous professionalism, Zhang fully deserved the win. His might not be the most exciting game, but it was a pleasure to watch. Or so I found.
More importantly, the quarter finals comprise a British half, with Trump (34) the youngest, and a Chinese half, featuring Zhang (31), Zhou (25), and Liu (19). I can’t but see this as a harbinger of things to come, as the future of Snooker may very well be written in Chinese, predominantly. As we are all concerned with snooker’s future, that’s what should worry us most of all. Or so I find.
It’s just ridiculous calling it a “shock defeat”. It’s just not objective, it’s just brainless. It was much more of a coin flip between those two keeping Ronnie’s elbow and that he had to play two matches in mind. The longer the day got, the more mistakes crept in and you could see that he was frustrated that he couldn’t finish it off earlier, because he knew it would get harder then. That said, did he take painkillers on camera before the match? I don’t remember. But Zhang is indeed pretty reliable in the balls, Monique, and he shows almost always great composure when I see him play. He should probably be in the top 32.
Shanghai Masters champion O’Sullivan looked on top of his game on Wednesday when he made three centuries to beat Jackson Page, but he had to battle to get past Si Jiahui on Thursday afternoon, before his run was ended by world number 57 Zhang. China’s 31-year-old Zhang is through to the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the fourth time in his career and will hope to reach his first semi-final when he plays Zhou Yuelong, who beat Ali Carter 4-1.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
I think it is a bit of a myth by now that Ronnie does not care about the Home Nations. Yes, best of 7 is not the best for him and he criticized the venues bitterly, but 2 years ago he was in the semis of the English and 3 seasons ago he was in the final of 3, even though that was in good Milton Keynes, not in any of the offensive venues. 🙂 But in general he performed well. Last year his results were quite bad, but they were like that in most (all?) of the ranking events. Granted, he got older and maybe more selective. I take Cristian’s point about frustration, but have to admit that after his magnificent performance against page and the very upbeat, although not so spectacular victory against Si, the attitude which Grump also described was not particularly pleasant to see. But we’ll see what happens in Wuhan.
As to snooker’s future, Monique commented a lot about Stan Moody and I think I would be interested in discussing that a little more, but maybe later.
Personally, I think this was a much better result for Ronnie than I was expecting. He took for first few rounds much more seriously than he normally does at a Home Nations event, and played some good stuff.
There wasn’t much point in making it deep into the draw, however, with the more lucrative and prestigious Wuhan Open scheduled to start so soon. I would be more inclined to “read much more into” Ronnie’s performance at the Wuhan Open than his performance at the English Open.
I will expect Ronnie to take the same approach in Wuhan that he took in Shanghai, and I will be surprised if that doesn’t happen…
Despite Ronnie hates the Home Nations venues overall this event was more han just the 1/8 final for Ronnie…
Well, Ronnie lost and that is unfortunate, and I certainly did not expect this, but it was more worrisome that after looking very upbeat and interested in the tournament, he just wen the other way, looking upset, sitting and holding his head in the chair, biting off his tip (again), so a complete turnaround after a seemingly very positive attitude.
There are two ways to look at this Csilla. You don’t get frustrated or upset unless you care, right? If it doesn’t matter to you, why would you get angry or frustrated?
That is the better way of looking at it. It is just mood swings that worry me.
That I’m afraid won’t change, and no matter how much Ronnie has improved in managing his mental health, he’s bipolar and that won’t go away.
I know, but this is why it is worrisome, especially happening so quickly at least for a spectator. And it is bad to see emotions getting the better of him and maybe ruining his chances: after all, he showed commitment and some magnificent, other times gritty play in this tournament. OK, this is not the most important event in the calendar, so no particular harm done, but it is in general worrisome, even though one needs to accept that this is the way it is. 🙂
Csilla, I think it did not “just” go the other way. It was a long day (with having an injury), then he was annoyed by spectators, as a result of that all he did get frustrated in the end not only by these things, but also because he is such a perfectionist and he just knew he should have finished it off earlier to give himself more rest. So maybe just don’t look at it as being something worrisome, it was unfortunate, but it wasn’t as if he abandoned everything that he had been taught by Steve Peters. It wasn’t like it was when he walked out on Hendry. The concentration was just gone.
While Zhang was still in his break, I was made to watch O’Sullivan grimacing, yawning, looking all around bored, and finally biting off his tip and tossing it on the floor. I’d have preferred not to see any of it, but the TV crew thought otherwise. I didn’t really care who won that thing, but thought that, for his sportsmanship, and his calm and meticulous professionalism, Zhang fully deserved the win. His might not be the most exciting game, but it was a pleasure to watch. Or so I found.
More importantly, the quarter finals comprise a British half, with Trump (34) the youngest, and a Chinese half, featuring Zhang (31), Zhou (25), and Liu (19). I can’t but see this as a harbinger of things to come, as the future of Snooker may very well be written in Chinese, predominantly. As we are all concerned with snooker’s future, that’s what should worry us most of all. Or so I find.
It’s just ridiculous calling it a “shock defeat”. It’s just not objective, it’s just brainless. It was much more of a coin flip between those two keeping Ronnie’s elbow and that he had to play two matches in mind. The longer the day got, the more mistakes crept in and you could see that he was frustrated that he couldn’t finish it off earlier, because he knew it would get harder then. That said, did he take painkillers on camera before the match? I don’t remember. But Zhang is indeed pretty reliable in the balls, Monique, and he shows almost always great composure when I see him play. He should probably be in the top 32.