Ronnie O’Sullivan knocked out after bitter clash with Ali Carter

Ronnie O’Sullivan clashed with Ali Carter at the Crucible as the five-times winner crashed out of the World Championship.

O’Sullivan, the title favourite, snapped at Carter in the 19th frame of the second-round match, describing the 38-year-old as “Mr Angry” after also appearing to barge him.

Carter went on to clinch a 13-9 victory, his first win over O’Sullivan in a major tournament after years of trying. O’Sullivan beat Carter in two world championship finals, in 2008 and 2012.

O’Sullivan had just fluked a snooker when he and Carter collided at the side of the table in a flash point that defined the match.

Once back in his seat, O’Sullivan said: “That’s for being Mr Angry.” He then told Carter it was his turn to play, sparking Carter to respond: “Thank you very much, very nice of you.”

“Stop being angry then,” O’Sullivan said.

The referee, Paul Collier, intervened and said: “Right, fellas, just play on,” with O’Sullivan then saying he was “cool as a cucumber”.

Carter, who has twice overcome cancer and suffers from Crohn’s disease, said of the incident: “I just thought, ‘Listen, I’m not intimidated by Ronnie like a lot of other players are. I’ve been through harder things than that in my life.’”

He added: “It would have been easy for me to sit back in my chair and be like, ‘I’d better be the little boy in the corner’.

“But no, it was my day today and I’m delighted.”

O’Sullivan was asked whether he would apologise to Carter. “I don’t think there’s anything to apologise about. There’s no hard feeling there,” the 42-year-old said.

O’Sullivan claimed Carter also barged him during the match. Asked if he thought he might be fined by disciplinary chiefs, O’Sullivan added: “I don’t really know. They can send a letter to my lawyer and they can happily deal with it.

“Have you never been angry in your life? We all get angry sometimes. If someone’s going to shoulder-barge into me, do I have to walk around him, tiptoe or do a little curtsy as if he’s the Queen? Sometimes you have to stand your ground. I’m not a limbo dancer, you know.”

O’Sullivan trailed 11-9 at the mid-session interval but he had been off his game for most of the match and it was no surprise that he inched no closer. Carter was clinical as he set up a quarter-final against Mark Williams or Robert Milkins.

The four-times champion John Higgins, the new favourite, was in superb form to take an 8-0 lead over the qualifier Jack Lisowski.

Barry Hawkins completed a 13-10 victory over Lyu Haotian and Kyren Wilson saw off Jamie Jones 13-5.