Ronnie O'Sullivan OUT of UK Championship in first round after shock defeat (2024)

3 days ago23:25 Charlie Malam

There we have it. The opening day of the UK Championship is a wrap.

Here's a reminder of today's final scores...

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-6 Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy 6-5 Zhao Xintong

Ding Junhui 6-5 Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong 4-6 David Gilbert

3 days ago22:58 Charlie Malam

It's a century break from Ding, who takes the frame 135-0. A supreme showing.

It's 5-5 and we're into a decider!

3 days ago22:53 Charlie Malam

There we have it. David Gilbert is through after winning 6-4.

On the other table, it appears we're headed for another deciding frame. Ding Junhui leads 45-0 in frame 10.

Will it be Ding or Robert Milkins who takes the 11th frame?

3 days ago22:26 Charlie Malam

David Gilbert and Robert Milkins are both one frame away from the next round.

Gilbert leads Xiao Guodong 5-4 while Milkins is 5-3 against Ding Junhui.

3 days ago21:36 Charlie Malam

The two Englishmen are again in front...

A reminder that it's the best of 11 frames - so first to six.

Ding Junhui 3-4 Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong 3-4 David Gilbert

3 days ago20:36 Charlie Malam

It's all tied up in the two evening matches as we stand. Both are into the fifth frame.

Ding Junhui 2-2 Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong 2-2 David Gilbert

3 days ago19:32 Charlie Malam

An update from those 7pm starts.

English duo Robert Milkins and David Gilbert both have 1-0 leads over their Chinese opponents.

3 days ago17:19 Charlie Malam

It's Shaun Murphy who triumphs, taking the final frame 70-1 as Zhao Xintong declares.

He clinches this first-round tie 6-5 as a result. He'll be pleased to come through that having led 3-0 at one point.

In tonight's 7pm session, we'll have...

Ding Junhui vs Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong vs David Gilbert

3 days ago17:06 Charlie Malam

We've got our first deciding frame of the week!

It's 5-5 between Murphy and Zhao, who will be the victor?

It's all in the balance at York Barbican.

3 days ago16:30 Charlie Malam

Eight-time winner of this tournament and defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan is OUT in the first round.

He loses 6-4 to Barry Hawkins, who wins four consecutive frames to progress to round two.

An incredible showing from The Hawk and only his third victory over O'Sullivan in what is their 21st meeting.

Shaun Murphy and Zhao Xintong are currently locked at 4-4.

3 days ago15:03 Jack McEachen

Zhao Xintong, playing his first professional game since being banned for 20 months following a match-fixing investigation, has won his first frame against Shaun Murphy.

The 2021 champion will be hoping he can kick on and attempt a comeback after the break.

Meanwhile on Table One, Barry Hawkins has taken the fifth frame against the defending champ.

Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-2 Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy 3-1 Zhao Xintong

Zhao Xintong has won a frame against Shaun Murphy. (Image: Getty)

3 days ago14:29 Jack McEachen

Ronnie O'Sullivan is in the scoring mood this afternoon, notching up another century break - this time 114 - to enter the mid-session break with a commanding lead.

Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-1 Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy 3-0 Zhao Xintong

3 days ago14:22 Jack McEachen

Shaun Murphy stole the first frame against Zhao Xintong and took the second, while Ronnie O'Sullivan and Barry Hawkins have split the second and third frames of their match.

A reminder that these are best-of-11 contests in the first round in York.

Ronnie O'Sullivan 2-1 Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy 2-0 Zhao Xintong

3 days ago13:40 Jack McEachen

What a way to kick off the UK Championship, Ronnie O'Sullivan has bagged a break of 128 in the very first frame of the tournament.

Ronnie O'Sullivan 1-0 Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy 0-0 Zhou Xintong

Ronnie O'Sullivan has made an electric start. (Image: Getty)

3 days ago13:09 Jack McEachen

World No. 3 Mark Allen has shared a clip of behind the scenes at the UK Championship, moments before matches get underway this afternoon.

Coming up is live updates of Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Barry Hawkins and Shaun Murphy vs Zhou Xintong.

3 days ago12:12 Jack McEachen

Dave Gilbert has opened up on how Zhao Xintong's 20-month suspension after a match fixing investigation affected him.

Zhao, who begins his UK Championship campaign against Shaun Murphy this afternoon, was only allowed to return to snooker in September following his suspension.

And the Chinese potter, who still has plenty of fans on the tour as a result of his entertaining game, left Gilbert very disappointed.

"He was the one who broke my heart, being caught up in all that scandal," the world number 22 told Metro.

"He is an incredible player. He’s a lovely lad, I don’t know the kid, but he was always smiling and happy. Beautiful player to watch, got all the shots, he was the star, he was the Chinese Ronnie!

"He wasn’t done for match-fixing was he? Betting on matches that he knew were bent. I don’t think it’s great, but we’ve all got mixed up and made mistakes.

"But I definitely feel like if people threw matches and have prospered from them, I don’t want to see them again, simple as that."

3 days ago11:26 Jack McEachen

Barry Hawkins, up against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the UK Championship, is certainly today's big underdog.

However, even though he is up against the record eight-time champion, Hawkins was happy to avoid Mark Selby.

"I don’t want to play Mark," Hawkins told Metro before Thursday's draw. "I don’t want to draw him.

"They’re all be tough, you’ve got to play well, but as long as I don’t get Mark because we’ll probably share an apartment, we don’t want to draw each other really, not in the first round.

"We had it last year and he beat me on the pink, the lucky git. We were sharing an apartment so that was a bit awkward all day.

"We just locked ourselves away, he went in his bedroom, I was in the front room, didn’t want to talk to each other all day. It wasn’t very nice, so hopefully not that again."

3 days ago10:37 Jack McEachen

Shaun Murphy has opened up on his pain at winning just three Triple Crown events.

The Magician has won the UK Championship, Masters and World Snooker Championship once each, but feels that his trophy cabinent should be more full.

"I probably shouldn’t say this but I will put it on record that if I end my career with only one of each of those three tournaments I will be slightly disappointed," he told Metro.

"I feel like I should have more to show for things, when you see players winning five, six and seven of these tournaments.

"I am very happy with my one win in each, but I feel there could have been more and perhaps should have been more.

"I’ve got plenty of years left, we’ve got some old timers like Mark Williams showing us that we can all keep doing it for a long time to come, but you’d want to be winning a few of these events soon."

Shaun Murphy is eyeing more glory at the UK Championship. (Image: Getty)

3 days ago09:48 Jack McEachen

Judd Trump believes that his fellow snooker stars should step up and not leave all the entertaining to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Small crowds at recent events, aside from when the Rocket was in action, have drawn criticism especially at Saudi Arabian competitions.

But Trump feels that he and other top stars need to step up in the knowledge that O'Sullivan will not be competing forever.

“The crowds weren’t what we wanted at the start but when you go to a new country or even go back to the first staging of a snooker tournament over here, there wasn’t a full crowd because no one knew what was going on,” said Trump in an exclusive interview for Reach’s UK Championship magazine.

“It’s very narrow-minded to expect a sell-out of a thousand people in a new country. I saw in the previous tournament in Saudi Arabia, people started coming in at the end of the tournament.

“I think some of the blame [for the low crowds] has to do with the players. They’re not exciting enough, including myself. You have to put yourself out there.

“Everyone turned out for Ronnie. The crowds are there but it’s up to the players to play more attacking, free-flowing, exciting snooker. It’s down to us to make the sport more enjoyable.”

3 days ago08:53 Jack McEachen

The two may be hoping to wreck each other's day at the UK Championship, but Shaun Murphy has been in favour of Zhao Xintong returning to the professional snooker tour.

Zhao was banned for 20 months after a match fixing investigation, though was cleared of fixing any games, but his return to snooker has been a controversial topic.

"I think it has to be said Zhao Xintong was at the very lower end of those bans," Murphy said as 10 Chinese stars were handed suspensions. "He was never accused of cheating, he was never accused of fixing any matches.

"He did know about it without reporting it and of course that’s against the rules. He’s served his time.

"There’s been quite a lot of fanfare about his return, which I’ve not been 100 per cent sure about. But he was caught, he took his punishment on the chin and since then has done everything right.

"There’s an element of rehabilitation, he’s done the crime and served his time and he’s back."

3 days ago08:09 Jack McEachen

Hours away from the start of the UK Championship, Ronnie O'Sullivan has taken aim at snooker's new generation.

The Rocket won two Majors last year and Mark Williams rolled back the years at the Champion of Champions, with O'Sullivan claiming that the 'Class of 92' had more work ethic than the current crop of stars.

"We had that professionalism about us that maybe the newer generation [don't have]," he said.

"Maybe the newer generation have had it too easy. When we came through the amateur circuit you had to earn your way through it.

"Now a lot of players turn pro, they think they're good, but really they're not.

"We had to come through the hard way – the juniors, the amateurs, then professionals and work our way up through it.

"So have a lot of other players, but we were in a golden era for snooker I suppose."

Ronnie O'Sullivan spoke out against his snooker rivals. (Image: Getty)

3 days ago07:55 Jack McEachen

13:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Barry Hawkins

Shaun Murphy v Zhao Xintong

19:00

Ding Junhui v Robert Milkins

Xiao Guodong v David Gilbert

3 days ago07:52 Jack McEachen