O'Sullivan suffers whitewash as Murphy sweeps into last four

Ronnie O'Sullivan was beaten 4-0 by Shaun Murphy at the Champion of Champions in Leicester on Wednesday, a result that stretched his run of opening-match defeats to three tournaments in a row.

O'Sullivan last won a match back in August, and he managed only a top break of 35 as Murphy required just one half-century to complete the whitewash, according to Metro Snooker.

The crowd inside the Mattioli Arena still called for him, but Metro Snooker described the atmosphere as sympathetic encouragement rather than genuine expectation of a comeback.

Former world champion Ken Doherty, working for ITV4, said O'Sullivan "didn't look comfortable out there, there was a litany of mistakes from him" and added that "he doesn't look sharp at all".

Doherty went further, saying O'Sullivan "can spark into life so quickly but there was nothing there" and predicted "he'll be very disappointed and the fans will be as well".

O'Sullivan remains ranked 13th in the world but faces a fall down the rankings if his results do not pick up soon, Metro Snooker reported.

Murphy's afternoon did not end there. SnookerHQ reported that the 2017 champion followed the win over O'Sullivan by beating Chang Bingyu 4-0 as well, meaning he won all ten frames he played on the day to reach the semi-finals of the 2026 Champion of Champions.

Murphy took particular satisfaction from the second result, saying of the victory over Chang Bingyu that "I had a little chuckle to myself", SnookerHQ reported.

Before the event, Neil Robertson had suggested the fear factor opponents once felt against O'Sullivan had largely disappeared from the sport, with the Rocket the last player to retain any of it.

Murphy disagreed, telling Metro it was more of a generational issue: "I think if there's any fear factor gone, I think it's probably a generational thing," he said, adding that younger players without scar tissue from facing O'Sullivan might feel differently to those of his own generation who have "had some good hidings off Ronnie O'Sullivan over the years".

Murphy has still won only six of his 24 professional meetings with O'Sullivan, and was on the wrong end of one of those defeats as recently as March's World Open, where O'Sullivan made a record 153 break before losing an epic final to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Recalling that week in Yushan, Murphy said: "He played me out in China a few months ago and it was a great match and then the next day he made the 153." He added: "So, there's still a player in there, don't worry about that."

O'Sullivan's next appearance comes in Snooker 900 action at the Crucible Cup on 24 and 25 November, before he returns to ranking competition at the UK Championship on 29 November against a qualifier. He is an eight-time UK champion but has gone out in the opening round on his last two visits to York, beaten by Barry Hawkins and Zhou.