Iran’s Hossein Vafaei edged out Ronnie O’Sullivan in a thrilling final frame to reach the quarter-finals of the World Open in Yushan.
O’Sullivan fought back from behind on four occasions, the last time with a break of 125, but ran out of position on a break of 62 in the decider.
The world number one still looked set to win when he later potted the final red to lead by 26 points, but missed a difficult black along the cushion instead of opting to leave Vafaei snookered on the yellow.
That decision came back to bite the seven-time world champion as he left the yellow over a corner pocket in escaping from a snooker and Vafaei held his nerve to clear the table and secure a 5-4 victory.
Vafaei had earlier missed a simple red on a break of 33 in the decider and told WST.tv: “I’m still shocked how I missed that red to be honest with you.
“I went down (on the shot) so quick so my eyes couldn’t see anywhere. That’s unforgivable and all of sudden the game changed. I thought I was going to lose that.
INCREDIBLE DRAMA! 🤯
Vafaei beats O'Sullivan 64-63 in the decider to set up a quarter-final against either Ding or Murphy… WOW!#WorldOpen
— WST (@WeAreWST) March 21, 2024
“I’m very happy that in the end I get the victory. He’s my hero – just playing against Ronnie O’Sullivan is just a dream come true, never mind winning.”
Defending champion Judd Trump, who won the tournament when it was last staged in 2019, also reached the last eight with a 5-3 win over David Lilley, while Barry Hawkins made breaks of 129, 67, 71 and 54 as he reeled off five frames in succession to beat Stephen Maguire 5-1.
In the final match of the morning session, Kyren Wilson made a break of 119 in the deciding frame to beat Ben Woollaston 5-4.
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