RESTLESS Ronnie O'Sullivan crashed out of the UK Championship after losing a final frame decider to Kyren Wilson at the York Barbican.
The record seven-time champion frequently sat down in mid-break, complaining of distractions in the two-table arena, and also ordered a photographer to leave.
Nevertheless O'Sullivan reeled off two frames in a row to claw back a two-frame deficit, only for Wilson to reply with a break of 102 in the decider to win 6-5 and seal his place in the semi-finals.
Asked whether O'Sullivan was distracted by the crowd at any point, he replied: “No, not really. It didn’t really bother me to be honest with you.
"I’m really good with loads of movements and loads of noise, I can handle that, or absolutely no movement and I can handle that.
“But I just struggle with both, when there’s supposed to be no movement and then there is. I find that really difficult.
“Some players maybe don’t mind it but I’d rather sit down and wait. There’s no issues from me.
“I’m here to play snooker and there’s no time limit on how long the match takes. To sit down for two or three minutes isn’t an issue.
“It doesn’t bother me. I’ll play in good venues, bad venues, with good photographers, bad photographers, good refs, bad refs.
“I honestly don’t care. It is what is. I don’t care enough to have an opinion on it.”
Likewise, Wilson said that the crowd noise and O'Sullivan's lengthy breaks did not cause a distraction.
"It didn't distract me. I just wanted to get back on with it.
"I understand his reasoning for it and I'm quite lucky that I play in a really busy club, so I constantly have people walking past me table.
"When the crowd were up on my turn, I just got on with it and did a pretty good job."
Regardless of the outside noise, Wilson's victory secures a career-best result at the UK Championship and puts him a step closer to a maiden Triple Crown title.
He said: “I’m super proud. At 5-3, things were starting to go a little bit against me. You’re only human if you start to think that your time has gone.
“Obviously I’m delighted to have been able to taken the opportunity when it came in the decider.
“I had to pick away at a couple of loose reds and pot a good long first red and then a great red into the green pocket.
“Then the pink, which decided that it wasn’t sure if it was going to go in the pocket. Thankfully that went in and the rest was history.”
Wilson will face Luca Brecel in the last four after the Belgian breezed to a 6-2 win over Anthony McGill of Scotland, knocking in three half-centuries en route to victory.
He heads into the semi-finals as the highest seed by some distance and as the bookmakers' favourite to lift the title.
“I always felt like the opportunity was there, I’ve been saying it every year that I’ve been coming here that I fancy the job.
“You’ve got to back it up with wins and I’m delighted that I’ve managed to do it this time around.”
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