Ronnie O’Sullivan has pulled out of the English Open for the second year running.
The Rocket’s withdrawal has handed Welsh player Liam Davies a walkover into the next round of the tournament at Brentwood Leisure Centre.
Davies, currently ranked 99th in the world, will face either Thepchaiya Un-Nooh or Wang Xinbo in the last 32.
O’Sullivan’s final appearance at the event came in 2024, when He Guoqiang eliminated him in the first round.
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His only English Open triumph was a comprehensive 9-2 victory over Kyren Wilson in Barnsley back in 2017.
Mark Allen defends the Steve Davis Trophy this year, having narrowly beaten Zhou Yuelong 9-8 in last season’s final.
Despite his absence from the Brentwood event, O’Sullivan has been playing well during his opening competitive outing of the new season on Wednesday.
He rattled in three consecutive century breaks against Kyren Wilson at the Shanghai Masters, though ultimately fell 6-4 in a tight last-16 encounter.
O’Sullivan is scheduled to take on Jackson Page in the opening round of the China Open on Sunday, August 9.
The seven-time world champion has increasingly favoured competing in overseas events rather than on home soil in recent seasons.
Last season, O’Sullivan made just two competitive appearances in Britain.
At the UK Championship in York, Zhou Yuelong knocked him out 6-4 in the last 32, while his World Championship campaign at the Crucible ended in agonising fashion – a 13-12 second-round thriller against John Higgins in April.
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Away from the UK, he came close to silverware on two occasions.
Neil Robertson edged him 10-9 in the Saudi Arabia Masters final, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated him 10-7 to claim the World Open title in Yushan.
The Rocket recently shared that he only plans to play at a couple more World Championships, as he goes in pursuit of an eighth world title.
He said: “I have two attempts at it. If I can find a bit of cueing or some form at Sheffield, you never know.
“If I don’t do it this year or the next, it will definitely never happen,” he told the World Snooker Tour.
The Rocket has slipped down to 12th in the world rankings due to playing fewer tournaments, with only the top 16 qualifying for some of the bigger events.
O’Sullivan may have to go through qualifying to reach the World Championships, but the 50-year-old has ruled that out.
He said: “I’m not going to play qualifiers. You won’t be seeing me go down to Barnsley trying to win qualifying matches and all that sort of stuff.”
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