Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen crash out of Wuhan Open

O’Sullivan – who last reached the semi-finals of a ranking event when he won his seventh world title in 2022 – paid for a slow start as Lyu moved into a 4-0 lead after two half-century breaks.

Although O’Sullivan came out after the interval with a clearance of 101, there was not to be a dramatic comeback as Lyu took the sixth frame 75-30 to secure the biggest win of his career.

Allen could have knocked O’Sullivan off the top of the world rankings if he went on to win the tournament, but came up short as he was beaten 5-2 by Ali Carter.

The Northern Irishman – who lifted the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship and the World Grand Prix titles earlier in the season – recovered from 2-0 down to level the match with a break of 63.

Carter, though, regained control after runs of 77 and 52 put him on the brink before another half-century break helped see ‘the Captain’ over the line to set up a semi-final against Lyu.

In Friday’s earlier matches, Judd Trump continued his impressive run with a 5-0 win over Tom Ford.

After winning last week’s English Open, Trump was a late arrival in Wuhan but has soon kicked into top gear again.

The world number four made breaks of 67 and 118 in another ruthless display to sweep past Ford and into his 56th career ranking semi-final.

Awaiting Trump will be Chinese teenager Wu Yize, who edged out Ireland’s Aaron Hill 5-4 in a last-frame decider.

Hill, 21, had made a break of 131 in the fourth frame to open up a 3-1 lead before Wu mounted a comeback to level at 3-3, with clearances of 67 and 104 eventually securing the 19-year-old’s place in the semi-finals.

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