Ronnie O’Sullivan crashes out of English Open after loss to Matthew Stevens

 

Ronnie O’Sullivan was eliminated out of the English Open in the third round after a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Matthew Stevens.

The 2020 English Open is currently being played under a coronavirus bubble environment at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes in England.

It was by no means an easy game for O’Sullivan, as the Essex cueman had difficultly competing against the 43-year-old Welshman, who comprehensively claimed a victory with a break of 116.

Matthew Stevens was electric and produced a remarkable display to defeat Ronnie O’Sullivan and reach the last 16 of the 2020 English Open. Stevens made breaks of 58, 73, and 116 to win the game and face Jak Jones in the next round.

After the game, Stevens said: “I started well. I think you have to begin well against Ronnie; otherwise, he puts you on the back foot. The key to beating him is you have to put him under pressure, and he missed one or two.”

The loss proved to be a further setback for O’Sullivan. The 44-year-old Welshman just won his sixth world title back in August, and he recently got eliminated at the first-round stage of the 2020 European Masters.

While Matthew Stevens, a two-time world finalist, won his only ranking title back in 2003.

Although Ronnie O’Sullivan was the favourite to win the game against Matthew Stevens, Stevens was never going to be a pushover as he had pedigree.

Matthew Stevens has won two of the snooker’s most prestigious events, which are the Benson and Hedges Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. Matthew “The Welsh Dragon” Stevens has also emerged as the runner-up in the World Snooker Championship on two different occasions, which came back in 2000 and 2005. Throughout his career, Stevens reached his highest ranking of No. 4 during the 2005/2006 season. The Carmarthen-born snooker player is a prolific break-builder and has compiled more than 300 century breaks in his career.

Matthew Stevens would not get his his chance to win the English Open this year as he lost to Jak Jones in the round of 16. The 27-year-old Welshman defeated Stevens 3-2 in the round of 16.

 

Here are the latest results of the English Open (October 15):

Judd Trump 4-1 Gary Wilson

Ben Woollaston 0-4 Kyren Wilson

John Higgins 4-1 Ding Junhui

Barry Hawkins 2-4 Neil Robertson

Jak Jones 3-2 Matthew Stevens

Andrew Higginson 0-4 Zhou Yuelong

Mark Selby 4-3 Hossein Vafaei

Robbie Williams 4-1 Anthony McGill