Ronnie O'Sullivan made an "outrageous" pot on the blue during his World Open second round match against Michael White – and fans are debating whether he meant it or not.
'The Rocket', who has lifted the Shanghai Masters, the Masters and the Riyadh Season World Masters this season, will be hoping to add another title to his cabinet this month.
O'Sullivan struggled in spells on Tuesday afternoon but the world number one made back-to-back tons at the tournament in Yushan before going on to win the match 5-3.
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It was a far-from-comfortable victory but the seven-time world champion made a number of superb pots, including a rather fortunate shot on the blue at 101-2 up in the fourth frame.
As you can see from the footage below, the blue bounced off either side of the pocket before ending up at the top of table. Then, the ball ricocheted off another two cushions before finding the middle pocket.
The commentator went on to suggest that the biggest cheer of the night was because of an "outrageous fluke" – and fans on social media were divided by the shot.
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One said: "It was a trick shot. Just nobody knew it," while another commented: "Genius at work."
A third wrote: "With respect, a fluke?" and a fourth added: "Cued terribly and fluked a blue?"
It has been a trophy-laden campaign for O'Sullivan thus far, but the 48-year-old has been questioned over one aspect of his game by a snooker legend.
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'The Rocket' still uses the old Triangle chalk, which was criticised by players for causing 'kicks' – where the white ball strikes the object ball in unexpected fashion during a shot.
And speaking on his YouTube channel, fellow seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry admitted that he does not understood why O'Sullivan hasn't already started using the new chalk.
He said: "The tables used to change a bit from tournament to tournament. But now, pretty much consistently, the tables are always [consistent].
"But as soon as anything goes wrong, the players are like, 'Oh my God'.
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"The biggest I'd say is Ronnie will still use the old chalk, which gets kicks and bounces on the cushion. I don't know why he wouldn't use a new one. Whether it's stubbornness I don't know.
"All the other players use the new chalk. You never get any marks on the table. If you watch old snooker matches from the 80s, there would be chalk marks everywhere and you'd get kicks all the time."
O'Sullivan will face Lyu Haotian in the next round of the World Open.
You can watch the Snooker World Open by subscribing to discovery+ for £6.99/ month via Amazon.
Topics: Ronnie OSullivan, Snooker
Jack Kenmare