Snooker results: Ronnie O'Sullivan endures tip nightmare and violates three-miss rule at the Welsh Open against Ross Muir

The Rocket made a flying start to the contest at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, where he needs to reach the final to qualify for the lucrative Players Championship in Wolverhampton, by making his 1,195th career century but when potting the final pink, his tip flew off.

Having left the arena momentarily to repair the issue, he suffered the same fate in the second frame and this time it proved costly as Muir went on to level the scores at one apiece with a break of 50.

His Scottish opponent, who has never gone beyond the fourth round of any event on the tour since turning pro back in 2013, then compiled a run of 68 on his way to moving 2-1 up but O'Sullivan restored parity without any cue problems in the next thanks to a break of 58.

The seven-time world champion continued to find his rhythm in the next with a run of 78 to get his nose in front but there was drama in the sixth frame when he violated the three-miss rule with a hit and hope escape attempt that went badly wrong.

However, he regained his cool during the deciding frame to earn his place in the next round.

O’Sullivan said: “I don’t know why the tip fell off, but after the second time it was always in the back of my mind on every shot, that it could come off again. What excites me now is winning the battle. Every player goes through the emotions, ups and down. It’s how you deal with them. If you want to win tournaments and have a successful career you have to learn how to be resilient, battle hardened and know how to stay in the match sometimes.”

Asked about the incident in the sixth frame, he added: “I didn’t see another shot. I was snookered on virtually every ball. I could have tried to come off two cushions but if I had missed the reds it was end of frame. Or I could try to get a fluke, so I tried that but hit the pink.”

Earlier, Neil Robertson crashed out after a shock 4-0 defeat to Dominic Dale - a result which sees him fail to qualify for the Players Championship.

The Australian came into this week’s event in 18th place and he remains in the same position, just £1,500 outside the top 16.

Dale said: "You have to put the top players under pressure and today I managed to do that. It’s easy to get hammered and look like an idiot when you play someone like Neil. I have always been a bit of a showman and natural exhibitionist and if you can’t perform in front of an audience like this then you are not cut out for sport.

“At the end of the match I shook his hand because I’m a big friend of Neil, I love his style of play and I said to him ‘never forget what a fantastic player you are’ because I know he’s not getting the results he wants at the moment, there is just two or three percent of his game he needs to find and he’ll get back to winning tournaments.

“This is a fantastic event and I’d love to see it come back to North Wales, maybe to that other place called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!”

Mark Williams saw his hopes of a third Welsh Open title end with a 4-3 reverse against Jak Jones.

The Welshman, who is the only home player to win this trophy having lifted it back in 1996 and 1999, made a break of 122 in the third frame to lead 2-1, but his fellow countryman took the next with a run of 52 and after the next two were shared, he clinched the decider with an excellent run of 73.

Defeat for Williams means his Players Championship place is in jeopardy as he lies 15th on the one-year ranking list.

Ding Junhui also crashed out after being whitewashed by Cao Yupeng, but he is safe in fifth place in the race to reach Wolverhampton.

English Open champion Mark Selby came through a tough battle against Si Jiahui thanks to a break of 85 in the deciding frame.

Related snooker links

• Welsh Open: Schedule & results
• Snooker's GOAT: O'Sullivan by the numbers
• Ronnie on the unbreakable record
• History of snooker's number ones
• Watch all the Crucible 147 breaks
• History of 147 breaks