Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Rocket's poor start to snooker season continues with shock early China Open loss to Noppon Saengkham
Ronnie O'Sullivan's poor start to the new season continued after he lost 6-4 to Noppon Saengkham in the second round of the China Open.
O'Sullivan had won the tournament twice before, but any hopes of a lengthy run in Taiyuan on the return of the event after a seven-year absence ended on Wednesday.
Seven-time world champion O'Sullivan recovered from a slow start to progress past Jackson Page but, despite three half-century breaks in the last-16 tie, Thailand's Saengkham proved too strong.
After O'Sullivan had reeled off six frames in a row to down Page, he made it seven with a break of 64 to move 1-0 up.
A 3-1 advantage for O'Sullivan was established after he narrowly missed out on a century before Saengkham started to fight back.
With errors becoming more frequent from O'Sullivan, Saengkham produced a break of 88 to level and when a scratchy seventh frame went his way, the momentum had flipped.
Saengkham made it four frames in a row to move 5-3 up, but O'Sullivan hit back with an excellent 88.
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It set up a tantalising finale and even though O'Sullivan clawed back two snookers, Saengkham's took the frame 64-46 to send him packing in the second round after he exited at the same stage of the Shanghai Masters.
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12 of August 2026
