Ronnie O’Sullivan leaves rival stunned as Shaun Murphy defeat summed up in one moment | Other | Sport

Neil Robertson was left stunned by one particular moment in Ronnie O’Sullivan‘s chastening defeat to Shaun Murphy at the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship. The seven-time world champion failed to win a single frame as Murphy cruised to an astonishing whitewash in the best-of-seven encounter. It was a brutal blow for the Rocket, who was nowhere near his brilliant best at any point during the match.

Murphy wasted little time in gaining the upper hand, narrowly missing out on a century break as he laid down an early marker in the opening frame. It looked like O’Sullivan had the chance to fire back in the second frame, but a crucial miss on the pink allowed Murphy to double his lead and put the 49-year-old firmly on the back foot.

An impressive break of 93 saw Murphy extend his advantage even further before capitalising on another mistake from O’Sullivan to win the match.

The latter was finally given a lifeline in the fourth and final frame, but ruined his chances by inexplicably missing an easy yellow. He was clearly annoyed with himself as he marched back to his chair and sat down before flashing a grimace in frustration.

Murphy went on to take full advantage, returning to the table and winning his fourth successive frame to wrap up a comprehensive victory.

Robertson, who was on commentary duties for TNT Sports, was taken aback by O’Sullivan’s costly miss and exclaimed: “I don’t know what happened there. Did he slightly miscue?”

After watching a replay, the Aussie player said: “Ah, he tried to pinch a little bit of the pocket because he was straight on the yellow. He didn’t even really have to pinch the pocket, but it’s what professionals do.

“We do manipulate the pockets as much as we can to manoeuvre the cue ball and Ronnie just bit off a little bit more than he could chew there.”

Murphy, meanwhile, suggested afterwards that O’Sullivan was unlucky at times. He said: “Certainly against someone like Ronnie, it’s very easy to start not playing your normal game.

“I just tried to go out and play snooker as I have done all season. Thankfully for me, some of those long reds went in and they give you the momentum in the match.

“On another day they don’t go in and we’re potentially having a slightly different conversation.

“Ronnie was a little unlucky with some of the splits that he played. Some of the escapes were magnificent. I just managed to get to the winning score first.”