World Championship 2021 - Anthony McGill stuns Ronnie O’Sullivan to claim brilliant final-frame win
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Updated 24/04/2021 at 00:36 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan's defence of his World Championship at the Crucible is over following a shock defeat to Anthony McGill. The Scot bossed the morning session to open up a lead, but the champion produced some brilliant snooker to take it deep. O'Sullivan had a chance but ran of position and McGill cleared up for victory
Watch: Emotional final moments as McGill beats O’Sullivan
Anthony McGill withstood a barrage from Ronnie O’Sullivan to knock the defending champion out of the World Championship in a final-frame decider.
The six-time winner had his back against the wall after losing the second session 6-2 to trail 10-4.
He produced sublime snooker to edge his way into a lead at 11-10 and 12-11, but McGill has a track-record of digging himself out of holes at the Crucible and he forced a decider before producing a nerveless break of 85 to reach the quarter finals.
The session opened with a long bout of safety that looked set to fall McGill’s way as he had O’Sullivan in trouble when fortunately leaving the white in the jaws of the yellow pocket. But the defending champion pulled out one of the shots of the championship so far when digging down on the cue ball and powering a red into the middle pocket.
“What can you say about that? Absolutely brilliant,” was the reaction from Eurosport’s Joe Johnson.
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'One of the best shots you will ever witness' from on-fire O’Sullivan
The stunning red led to a break of 71, and he followed up with a 91 in the 18th - which was set up by a brilliant green into the left middle to get up and running.
McGill was not far off playing no-miss snooker in the morning session. He had two chances to stem the tide in the 19th, but missed reds into the bottom-left corner and O’Sullivan pounced with a 73 to cut the gap to one.
The Rocket secured a clean sweep of the mini-session, levelling the match in the process, when getting the better of a scrappy 20th.
McGill came out after the interval in an ultra-aggressive mood, and O’Sullivan appeared unsettled by his opponent’s gung-ho attitude.
However, the Scot missed a tough black into the green pocket and O’Sullivan eked out a lead and was able to win a safety battle to move ahead for the first time since the seventh frame.
After losing the first five frames of the evening, McGill stopped the rot with a solid break of 87 to level the scores at 11-11 - but it came his way after O’Sullivan surprisingly ran out of position when in the balls.
The 23rd was a nervy affair, with O’Sullivan fouling when touching a red with his waistcoat to hand a chance to McGill. Last year’s semi-finalist did not do sufficient damage as O’Sullivan worked a small lead and won a safety battle.
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'Draped all over it' – O’Sullivan fouls after waistcoat touches ball
McGill responded superbly to being on the brink of defeat as he forced a safety error from O’Sullivan and rolled in a nerveless break of 136 to force a decider.
O’Sullivan laid a superb snooker at the start of the decider, and it earned him a chance. He rolled in a swift 42, but ran out of position and wriggled a long red into the bottom-right jaws.
It handed a chance to McGill and he took it in clinical fashion to cause the biggest shock of the tournament to date.
After losing to Kyren Wilson in a deciding frame in the semi-finals in 2020, McGill has demonstrated he is comfortable in the long format and will have high hopes of going at least one step further than last year.
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'It was just so easy' - McGill on excellent opening session
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