The pressure of playing world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan seemed to get Zhou Yuelong as he endured an embarrassing moment in their UK Championship clash.
Having eased past Matthew Stevens in the first round, O'Sullivan was again quickly into his stride at the York Barbican, winning the first frame before duly racking up a 56-0 lead in the second. But then a missed pot left his opponent weighing up six reds to aim for, and the possibility of a long plant.
A clearly anxious Zhou, who had beaten Chinese compatriot Yan Bingtao 6-5 in his previous encounter, spent almost a minute deciding how to play it. The two reds were aligned to the top jaw of the pocket, meaning a thin contact was seemingly required.
As it happened, no contact was made, as the 24-year-old missed his target altogether. The white ball then cannoned back off the cushion and hammered into the black, sending an array of balls around the table.
Mercifully, O'Sullivan was left with a simple pot when he arose from a chair. It saved referee Tatiana Woollaston from what would have been a complex task of re-spotting all the balls.
On Eurosport commentator David Hendon couldn't hide his surprise: "Good grief,” he said. "The good news for the referee is I don’t think they will be going back, but what a misjudgement.”
Co-commentator Dominic Dale added "He did try all-out to make the plant, and to hit the red very thinly and missed it altogether," and after O'Sullivan cleaned up the frame from there, Hendon said: “Zhou Yuelong has had a horror show of a start and needs things to change soon.”
Zhou however, never recovered from there. O'Sullivan went on to take the next four frames for a resounding overall 6-0 win, keeping his bid for an eighth UK title on track.
There was however, no opportunity for a 147, with the 46-year-old having previously claimed he would reject the bonus cash prize if he made a maximum break : "What’s the prize for a max here? £15,000? Not enough," he said. "I’d probably go for it if it was £50,000 but for anything less than that then let somebody else have a go."
