RONNIE O’SULLIVAN saw his hot run halted as he crashed 5-2 to Gary Wilson in the Xi’an Grand Prix.
The Rocket dropped just three frames to reach the quarter-finals.
But Wilson raced 3-0 up before clinching a date with Shaun Murphy.
GettyRonnie O’Sullivan has crashed out of the Xi’an Grand Prix[/caption]
GettyHe was beaten 5-2 by Gary Wilson, who will face Shaun Murphy for a place in the final[/caption]
O’Sullivan was given hope of getting back into the match after Wilson made fouls in the fourth frame before he won the fifth to reduce the lead to 3-2.
But Wilson blew the seven-time champion away with a 120 break in the sixth and a narrow win in the seventh.
O’Sullivan had been hoping to end his 21-month drought without a ranking title after some impressive recent form.
He beat Yao Pengcheng 5-1 in the opening round before whitewashing Stephen Maguire 5-0.
Another confident 5-2 success over Jak Jones followed in the last-16, but Wilson proved a step too far.
And despite his positive form, O’Sullivan had previously warned he could not allow it to distract him in China.
Speaking after his victory, Wilson said he had to win the mental battle against O’Sullivan to prevail.
He said: “You’ve got to show him [O’Sullivan] you are ready to play.
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“Against Ronnie, you can tell he’s trying to look at signs, trying to tell if you feel good or you feel bad, whether you are taking your chances or you aren’t, if you are bottling it.
“All of that goes through your head. He feeds off that – you need to try and block it out of your head.
“I am one of the weakest on the tour for technique, but if I’m comfortable in it and doing what I want to do then the confidence comes from there.
“I feel like I can play any shot on the table and beat anyone in the world.”
“It has been kind of like that this week – I’ve felt reasonably in control.”
The world no 17 will face Murphy in a battle to reach the final after he defeated home favourite Ding Junhui 5-3.
Mark Williams meets Daniel Wells in the other semi-final, which will be an all-Welsh affair after they had wins over Lyu Haotian and Liam Pullen.
Williams had to put up a fight with a 5-4 victory over Haotian, while Wells cruised to a 5-2 win against Pullen.
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