RONNIE O'SULLIVAN was hoping to avoid joining Trump in exiting the World Snooker Championship when he resumed his second round match against Barry Hawkins in the evening session trailing 9-7.
But Hawkins kept his nerve to clinch a final frame thriller and send O'Sullivan tumbling out of the competition 13-12. Hawkins had started the evening session nervelessly, producing a pair of solid clearances to move one frame from victory at 12-9.
In typical fashion, O'Sullivan responded with his fourth century of the match, a clearance to pink of 124, to reduce the deficit to 12-10. And he raised hopes of a maximum in the next, as a run of 11 reds and 11 blacks earned him a break of 88 and took him to within one frame of levelling the match.
He duly did so when he capitalised on a Hawkins error to roll in a break of 63 and force the final frame thriller. After a long period of safety play which left reds scattered across the table, Hawkins fashioned a superb break of 56 to take control in the decider.
With reds strewn everywhere, O'Sullivan set out on what would have been a stunning rescue mission before going in-off to hand Hawkins the chance to confirm victory.
