The snooker star nicknamed The Rocket was blasted out of the BetVictor Scottish Open. Ronnie O’Sullivan (pictured), the seven-time world champion and world No 1, was edged 4-3 by a sparkling display from Gary Wilson and you have to scroll down to No 31 to find Wilson’s name in the rankings.
It’s the biggest shock so far in the star-studded tournament at Meadowbank and what a night it was for the 37-year-old English professional from Wallsend in North Tyneside.
The surprise result came after most people’s pre-tournament favourite had levelled the match at 3-3. Earlier, Wilson started with a bang, building a frame-winning break of 72. He lost the second as O’Sullivan posted a 69 break and Wilson did not trouble the scorers, but the underdog won the third 107-1 thanks to a break of 83.
O’Sullivan hit back instantly in this see-saw tussle, winning the fourth 68-13, but Wilson was not to be denied. He built a break of 82 to take the next and edge ahead 3-2 only for O’Sullivan to clinch a break of 52 and a scoreline of 105-27 in the sixth to set up a high-pressure final frame.
Seemingly nerveless Wilson, who was never behind in the match, accumulated a break of 73 to take the match with a seventh frame score of 74-0 to claim his first carer win over The Rocket.
The North-East man turned professional in 2004 but dropped off the tour two years later and didn’t regain his professional status until seven years after that.
But the cue ace nicknamed The Tyneside Terror certainly lived up to his reputation at Meadowbank and he emptied O’Sullivan from the Scottish Open, the earliest he has bitten the dust since the event was revived in 2016.
That is, of course, if Wilson can maintain this phenomenal form and, if he does, Wednesday’s giant-killer could be eyeing a long stay in the competition.
He’s been a runner-up twice in a ranking event and no doubt would love to go one better, but this prize scalp has turned heads and now it is up to Wilson, who beat Irishman Ken Doherty, the world champion in 1997, 4-2 in the previous round, to reproduce this form in his next match.
He’ll meet either Hossein Vafaei, the first professional snooker player from Iran, or 22-year-old Chinese rising star Yan Bingtao, the youngest player ever to win the amateur world snooker championship.
Thursday’s timetable starts at 1pm with Scotland’s hope John Higgins in against Jamie Jones. Vafaei against Bingtao is scheduled for 2pm while another Scot, Glaswegian Stephen Maguire, is also on at that time against on-form Englishman Kyren Wilson who banged in breaks of 121 and 131 in his 4-3 win over Welsh cueman Matthew Stevens in his previous match.
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