Ronnie O'Sullivan crashes OUT of the World Snooker Championship as he suffers a 13-10 defeat by Stuart Bingham... as the Rocket's search for a record-breaking eighth world title goes on

Ronnie O'Sullivan has crashed out of the World Snooker Championships after he was beaten by Stuart Bingham 13-10 in the quarter-finals of the tournament. 

The seven-time world champion was heavily backed as the favourite coming into the match, but after the pair came into the final session of the match all-square at 8-8, Bingham pulled away from the world No 1, wrapping up the match by claiming the final three frames. 

Bingham, who said he shed a tear backstage after the win, will now advance to his third semi-final at the Crucible and will face off against Jak Jones, who also pulled off a shock upset to defeat Judd Trump earlier on Wednesday night.

Afterwards, O'Sullivan told EuroSport: 'I've enjoyed the tournament, for me it's been a great tournament. 

'I've actually started getting through the ball, which is a great thing for me at tournaments victories and losses, and you just want to be enjoying the game.  

'For me, there's been a lot of progress. I lost a snooker match tonight. Stuart deserved the victory, he played really well, I tried to hang on in there but it just wasn't to be.' 

Despite missing out on reaching the semi-finals of the tournament, and a shot at his record-breaking eighth world title, the British snooker player still feels he has plenty to look forward to in his career.

'I'll be playing in China next week. I'll be playing Ding in a series of challenge matches in China. Then I'm off to Finland. I don't know who I'm playing there - they haven't decided the player there yet. But I'm really excited and I've got a lot of snooker still to play, so I'm looking forward to that.'

'I just want to be happy playing,' he added. 'There's a lot to look forward too.'

He added: 'Stuart adapted better than me, he made the bigger shots, better breaks and I just tried to hang on and try to make him fight for it.' 

It was a rollercoaster of a match, that also saw the seven-time world champion lauded for his sportsmanship by 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson after a bizarre incident that saw O'Sullivan ask the referee to replace the black several times. 

With O'Sullivan leading 6-5, he had potted the black and needed to put away the penultimate red to set himself up to take a two-frame lead. The referee then impaired his line to the pocket, placing the black in line with the red in front of the corner. 

But the British star seemed uneasy, noting that the black ball had continued to roll after it had been placed on the table - requesting the referee Desislava Bozhilova replace the black. 

The referee then appeared to move the black and seemingly appeared to give O'Sullivan a better line at the red ball. But he refused to pot the ball - with the world No 1 subsequently being lauded by fans around the stadium and Robertson on BBC Sport's live coverage. 

O'Sullivan subsequently stated that he had 'just wanted to 'prove the referee wrong' by asking the official to replace the black ball on several occasions. 

'To be honest with you, some of the referees I think they’ve got it in for me,' he said 'So I just wanted to prove to her that she’d got it wrong.'

'I thought, you know what, I didn’t feel good about having to pot the ball after that. But I just wanted to make a point. The point was made.

'I’m not that hungry to win in that way. I am more of a principled person, so once the principle’s been made I can sleep at night.'

More to follow...