Frustrated Ronnie O'Sullivan brands himself a ‘very poor’ snooker player after China Open defeat

Seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan exited the £1.2 million ranking event on Wednesday following a 6-4 second round loss to qualifier Noppon Saengkham.

O’Sullivan - who defeated Jackson Page 6-2 in round one - led 3-1 at the mid-session interval before world number 45 Saengkham strung together four consecutive frames to turn the tables at 5-3 up.

A speedy effort of 77 in frame nine kept O’Sullivan’s hopes alive, but Thai cueist Saengkham recorded his second successive top-flight victory over his opponent by getting the job done in the tenth on the final pink, despite O’Sullivan having battled back needing three snookers.

Several star names are already out of the China Open before the quarter-finals stage; reigning champion Neil Robertson is the only member of the world’s top five to make it through. Current world number one and newly-minted Shanghai Masters champion Judd Trump suffered a shock loss to Saengkham in round one.

O’Sullivan ‘used’ to being ‘not very good’

Ronnie O’Sullivan last won a professional title in March 2024 at the inaugural Riyadh Season Championship (although then it was called the ‘World Masters of Snooker’). The last of his record 41 ranking event triumphs came a couple of months before at the World Grand Prix in Leicester; his most recent ranking success in China was in 2017.

But it has been an eventful 12 months for ‘The Rocket’, who has gone very close to lifting trophies, as well as producing signature bursts of brilliance.

He was a frame away from winning the 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters where he was denied by Robertson in a decider, and it took a sensational spell from Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - which included a maximum 147 break - to stop him in the World Open final in March.

At the aforementioned Saudi event, O’Sullivan compiled two 147s during his semi-final win over Chris Wakelin - the first time multiple maximums had been made within the same session of a professional match - and at the World Open he constructed the highest break ever made in top tier snooker with a 153 after using a free ball to begin the unprecedented effort.

However, O’Sullivan deals in trophies, and this prolonged sequence without a professional title seems to be leaving him frustrated and dejected. In his post-match press conference after losing to Saengkham, O’Sullivan was brutally self-critical about his performance, and the current state of his overall game.

“Just very poor. Too many bad shots, too many bad frames, too many silly mistakes” said the 50-year-old. “Just not very good really. I’ve been like this for four years, so, I’m kind of used to it now, but it’s frustrating really.”

Despite his scathing personal analysis, O’Sullivan praised former Scottish Open finalist Saengkham on his display. “I don’t want to take anything away from Noppon, he played a really good match, he’s in good form, he’s cueing strong. If anything, I probably made him play pretty poor tonight, I dragged him down to my level, so all credit goes to Noppon.

“As for me, you have to take care of yourself no matter what happens. So, I’m just a very, very poor snooker player at the moment. Simple as.”

It’s not the first time this year that O’Sullivan has blasted his game. At the World Grand Prix back in February, he said: “my bad is a lot badder than it used to be, and my good is not as good. I’m just not a very good player anymore”.

The one consolation for O’Sullivan after his Taiyuan defeat is that he does collect ranking points having navigated his opening round tie. The former world number one is currently situated 14th in the global standings, and recently said that if he had to qualify for events - which players outside of the top 16 need to do for several tournaments - it would mark the end of his career.

O’Sullivan is near the elite top 16 cut-off, although he doesn’t have too much prize money to defend this season up to the World Championship. His next engagement on the circuit is scheduled to be at the Wuhan Open later this month.

To view the full draw, results, schedule, and other information from the 2026 China Open snooker, visit our tournament information centre here.