O'Sullivan furious after throwing away 3-1 lead - 01/10/2009

Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-3 Neil Robertson
O'Sullivan's scores first
70-48 (O'Sullivan 47, Robertson 45), 6-84 (Robertson 77), 113-14 (O'Sullivan 112), 86-42 (O'Sullivan 43, Robertson 42), 0-117 (Robertson 91), 4-72 (Robertson 37)

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Neil Robertson

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN slaughtered his own performance after throwing away a 3-1 lead. in the second match of the night.

O'Sullivan made only one break of more than 50 in the match - an effort of 112 in the third effort - and apologised to the crowd at the Charter Hall in Colchester.

"I can't believe I got three frames so I'm over the moon with that," said a despondent O'Sullivan.

"I didn't think I could get any worse but I've proved that I could - I'm just useless, give me a new head!

"I'm glad that's over, it was awful, I'm sorry, very sorry."

The match ended 3-3 draw and meant O'Sullivan has claimed three points from his first two matches, the same amount as Robertson.

An early missed long red after a break of 45 proved costly for Australian Robertson and O'Sullivan, who has won the Premier League title for the last five seasons, went on to claim the opening frame.

Robertson missed a straight red early in the second but it did not prove costly as he soon got another opportunity. This time a break of 77 gave him the frame, although the miss on the last red with a century looming would have annoyed Robertson.

But O'Sullivan showed his class in the third frame after Robertson's missed into the centre pocket. While the Rocket was making a break of 112, commentator Clive Everton described it by saying 'you will not see a better crafted century than this' as O'Sullivan moved 2-1 ahead.

Both players made breaks of more than 40 at the start of the fourth but the critical point came when O'Sullivan tucked Robertson up with a perfect snooker. The cue ball was tight behind the pink and Robertson failed to hit the target red on five occasions to gift O'Sullivan 20 points.

When Robertson finally hit the target, he left the red on and O'Sullivan did the rest to move into a 3-1 lead with two frames remaining.

In the fifth it was O'Sullivan's turn to make a number of fouls as the cue ball was hidden behind the brown ball and his three-cushion escape was unsuccessful on four occasions. Robertson's later break of 91 kept his hopes alive of securing a point.

Robertson moved 35-0 ahead in the last before referee Paul Collier correctly called a foul against Robertson as his cue glanced a red that was touching the cue ball. But Robertson battled hard and a break of 37 saw him claim a hard-fought 3-3 draw.