LONDON: Five-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan suffered a surprise 4-3 defeat by the unheralded Chris Wakelin in the English Open in Manchester on Thursday.
The all-English encounter saw Wakelin, ranked 70th in the world, make a break of 46 in the deciding frame but a missed black off the spot gave O'Sullivan a chance to snatch the match.
But O'Sullivan could not capitalise and Wakelin took the frame 69-7.
"I'm very relieved in the end, I had several chances to get over the line," Wakelin told Eurosport. "When I missed the pink at 3-2 I feared the worst.
"You don't get many chances against any of the top players, but in the last frame there were a couple of points where I thought 'you are throwing this away, Chris'.
"I had a nightmare season last year and never got past the second round so I'm delighted to get into the last 16."
Wakelin will play either Australia's former world champion Neil Robertson or China's Xiao Guodong in the last 16 later on Thursday.
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