Ronnie O’Sullivan withdraws from Welsh Open hours before first-round match

O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from six ranking tournaments this season

Ronnie O’Sullivan will not appear at the Welsh Open this week (Richard Sellers/PA) (PA Wire)

Ronnie O’Sullivan has withdrawn from the Welsh Open just hours before he was due to take on Jamie Clarke in the first round in Llandudno.

It is the third tournament in a month that O’Sullivan has pulled out of after he walked away from the Masters and the German Masters. The seven-time world champion has not played since snapping his cue in frustration after losing four of his five matches in the Championship League.

World Snooker Tour confirmed in a short statement: "Ronnie O'Sullivan has pulled out of the BetVictor Welsh Open. O'Sullivan was due to face Jamie Clarke at 1pm on Tuesday afternoon. Clarke will now receive a bye to the last 32."

O’Sullivan has now withdrawn from six ranking tournaments this season. He is next set to compete in the World Open in Yushan at the end of this month. He cited exhaustion as his reason for missing the Masters after engaging in a gruelling series of exhibition events abroad.

He told Eurosport: "It was a nightmare decision really to make. I've obviously been on this three-week trip, away playing, and I think I just exhausted myself.

"(There was) a lot of pressure while I was away and the build-up of all that kind of got too much. I lost the plot on Thursday and snapped my cue so that's unplayable, so I just knew at that moment in time, the right decision was not to play."

additional reporting by PA