Ronnie O'Sullivan has been knocked out of the World Open in the last 16 after losing to rival Hossein Vafaei in an enthralling match.
Billed as a grudge match given their recent history, Vafaei and O'Sullivan didn't disappoint in their contest.
The match went back-and-forth with Vafaei continually taking the lead, only for O'Sullivan to pull back level.
A deciding frame was needed to separate them both with Vafaei eventually coming out on top in the safety exchange.
O'Sullivan missed a crucial black and that allowed Vafaei to take control before clearing up the colours in style.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was beaten by Hossein Vafaei
EUROSPORT
The two rivals embraced and shared a laugh before O'Sullivan left the stage and Vafaei stopped for pictures with the crowd.
O'Sullivan looked far from the kind of form he had shown earlier this season in winning both the UK Championship and Masters events.
Both players were guilty of making mistakes in the early frames with neither of them able to lay down a marker.
There was also a bizarre moment in the fourth frame when a noise was heard from the crowd as O'Sullivan looked to clear up the table.
Fortunately, the frame was already won for O'Sullivan as he was 47 points ahead but he looked perplexed at the distraction.
The Eurosport commentary team also couldn't exactly work out what the noise was with a suggestion it sounded similar to a particular musical instrument.
"I thought that was someone on the xylophone actually," they said.
"Maybe it was a phone. I don't know. Don't know why they would have one here."
Vafaei now progresses to the quarter-finals of the World Open where he will face Ding Jinhui or Shaun Murphy.
Ronnie O'Sullivan was gracious in defeat
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For O'Sullivan, he'll now have just over a week off before the penultimate tournament of the season at the Tour Championship in Manchester.
That will be a precursor to the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield at the end of April, where O'Sullivan is bidding for history.
For the first time in his illustrious career, O'Sullivan goes into the Crucible event with the chance of winning all three Triple Crown tournaments in a single season.
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The match came down to the final ball
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If he wins in Sheffield then O'Sullivan will also move ahead of Stephen Hendry with the most World Snooker Championship titles of all time.
“I’d love to try to win the Crucible," O'Sullivan said.
"It is a hard tournament and 17 days is a long time. A lot can happen there. I’d love to win that another time to make it eight.
"There are so many good players around, so you have to get a little bit of luck and play some good snooker at the right times."
