Sean O'Sullivan (snooker player)

Sean O'Sullivan
Paul Hunter Classic 2016
Born (1994-04-29) 29 April 1994 (age 30)
Whitechapel, East London
Sport country England
NicknameThe Storm[1]
Professional2012–2014, 2015–2019, 2022–2024
Highest ranking73 (June–July 2016)[2][3]
Maximum breaks1
Best ranking finishLast 16 (x1)

Sean O'Sullivan (born 29 April 1994) is an English former professional snooker player.

Career

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2012 Paul Hunter Classic

O'Sullivan turned professional after qualifying via Event 2 of the 2012 Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 snooker seasons. In the event, he beat Christopher Keogan 4–1, Nick Dyson 4–0, Mohammed Al Shaikh from Bahrain 4–1 and Michael Wild 4–3, before seeing off Ryan Causton 4–1 in the quarter-finals.[4]

Debut season

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O'Sullivan lost his first nine matches as a professional, picking up his first victory in the minor-ranking European Tour Event 3 by beating David Gilbert 4–3, before losing 4–2 to Jimmy Robertson.[5] The tournament formed part of the Players Tour Championship events, with O'Sullivan playing in all ten tournaments, finishing 98th on the Order of Merit.[6]

His best run of results came in qualifying for the China Open, where he defeated Craig Steadman and Alfie Burden, but then lost 5–3 to Rory McLeod.[5] O'Sullivan's season ended when he was beaten 10–6 by Michael Wasley in the first round of World Championship Qualifying.[7] He finished his first year on tour ranked world number 91.[8]

2013/2014 season

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O'Sullivan's only win at the venue stage of a ranking event during the 2013–14 season came at the UK Championship when he defeated Anthony Hamilton 6–4, before losing by a reverse of this scoreline to Noppon Saengkham in the second round.[9] He dropped off the tour at the end of the season as he was ranked world number 102, well outside of the top 64 who retain their places.[10] O'Sullivan entered Q School in a bid to win his place back, but lost in the last 32 in both events.[9]

2014/2015 season

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At the Riga Open in August 2014, O'Sullivan reached his first quarter-final in a professional event with wins over Jamie Burnett, Mark Joyce, Jak Jones and Mark Davis, before he was beaten 4–0 by Mark Allen.[11][12] He also played in all three of the Asian Tour events and, thanks to a last 16 showing in the Xuzhou Open, he finished 22nd on the Asian Order of Merit which has earned him a new two-year main snooker tour card for the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons.[13]

2015/2016 season

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O'Sullivan dropped just two frames in reaching the last 16 of the Paul Hunter Classic where he lost 4–0 to Michael Holt. He would ultimately finish 38th on the European Order of Merit.[14] In the main ranking events he qualified for the International Championship courtesy of a 6–3 win over Robin Hull, but lost 6–0 to Anthony McGill in the first round.[15] O'Sullivan made five breaks of 50 or above to eliminate Kurt Maflin 6–3 in the first round of the UK Championship, before being defeated 6–4 by Matthew Selt.[16][17] He could only win one more match after this and lost 10–5 to Ross Muir in the first round of World Championship qualifying.[15]

2016/2017 season

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2016 Paul Hunter Classic

A 4–1 win over Yu Delu qualified O'Sullivan for the 2016 Riga Masters and he beat Luca Brecel 4–0, before being unable to pick up a frame himself in the second round against David Gilbert. After losing eight of his next nine matches he knocked out Robbie Williams, Mark King and Mitchell Mann at the Scottish Open all by 4–1 scorelines to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time. O'Sullivan led Yu 3–2, but lost 4–3.[18] O'Sullivan entered Q School at the end of the season in order to attempt to remain on the tour.[19] He lost 4–0 to Allan Taylor in the final round of the first event and 4–3 to Paul Davison in the fourth round of the second, but had done enough to earn a new tour card through the Q School Order of Merit.[20][21]

2023/2024 season

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O'Sullivan made his first ever career maximum at the 2023 European Masters in Germany in his Last 128 round against Barry Hawkins.

Performance and rankings timeline

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Tournament 2011/
12
2012/
13
2013/
14
2014/
15
2015/
16
2016/
17
2017/
18
2018/
19
2021/
22
2022/
23
2023/
24
Ranking[22][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] 91 [nb 2] [nb 3] 90 [nb 4] 93 [nb 2] [nb 3] 80
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event A RR RR
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ A 1R LQ
British Open Tournament Not Held A LQ LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 1R A LQ LQ
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held LQ
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 2R A 1R 2R
International Championship NH LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ Not Held LQ
UK Championship A LQ 2R A 2R 1R 1R 1R A LQ LQ
Shoot Out Non-Ranking Event 1R 3R 1R A 1R 1R
Scottish Open NH MR Tournament Not Held 4R 1R 1R A 1R LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
German Masters A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A LQ LQ
Welsh Open A LQ 1R A 1R 2R 1R 1R A LQ LQ
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Open A LQ A Not Held LQ LQ LQ Not Held 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic NR LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ NR Not Held NR
Riga Masters[nb 6] Tournament Not Held Minor-Ranking 2R LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 1R 1R 1R Tournament Not Held
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Indian Open Not Held 1R LQ NH LQ 2R LQ Tournament Not Held
China Open A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 1R 2R 3R A Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Haining Open Tournament Not Held Minor-Ranking 4R A A A Not Held
Six-red World Championship NH A A A A A A A NH LQ NH
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)
QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Held means an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. ^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. ^ a b c He was an amateur
  3. ^ a b c New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
  4. ^ Players qualified through Q School started the season without prize money ranking points
  5. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2011/2012-2015/2016)
  6. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

Career finals

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Amateur finals: 1 (1 title)

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Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2022 Q Tour – Event 3 Belgium Julien Leclercq 5–2

References

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  1. ^ "Sean O'Sullivan". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ "WORLD RANKINGS After 2016 Kaspersky Riga Masters". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ "WORLD RANKINGS After 2016 Indian Open". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "Qualifying School – Event Two". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Sean O'Sullivan 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Issued after Munich Open 2013 (ET6)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  8. ^ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  9. ^ a b "Sean O'Sullivan 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  10. ^ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  11. ^ "Sean O'Sullivan 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  12. ^ "O'Sullivan hoping Riga success is start of tour comeback journey". The Old Green Baize. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  13. ^ "Asian Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  14. ^ "European Order of Merit 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  15. ^ a b "Sean O'Sullivan 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Emphatic Wins for Selby and Bingham". World Snooker. 26 November 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  17. ^ "Mixed fortunes for Atack based duo in snooker championship". Nuneaton News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  18. ^ "Sean O'Sullivan Q&A". World Snooker. 28 December 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Sean O'Sullivan 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Kleckers Books Tour Sport". World Snooker. 14 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  21. ^ "Q School Order of Merit 2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  22. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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