Thai on a high as Rocket crashes

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN’S dismal season suffered another setback when he was whitewashed 5-0 by Thailand’s James Wattana in the first round of the Star Group China Open in Beijing yesterday.

O’Sullivan headed to China having gone five months without winning a match in a ranking tournament. And he was outplayed by Wattana, who produced his best performance for years to send the world number one crashing out.

“I didn’t expect that,” said Wattana, whose confidence was high after qualifying for the final stages of the 888.com World Championship last week.