RONNIE O’SULLIVAN made a rare howler when he potted the WHITE BALL during the first break of his World Championship semi-final.
After winning the toss, O’Sullivan looked angry with himself after the foul awarded four points on the table.
break-off was less than ideal as he sent the white into the green pocket in record time.
And the allowed Xhao to build up an advantage before taking a 2-0 lead.
The Rocket, 49, was using a fresh tip for his semi-final, as he bids make another Crucible final.
The seven-time world champion did fight back to win the next three frames in , but Xhao then made it 3-3.
After appearing to settle quickly, Xhao, 28, started making costly errors of his own while going for wild and aggressive reds.
O’Sullivan booked his place in the – but he was visibly distressed at times.
Leading 10-6 from Wednesday morning’s session, the Brit lost three of the first four frames in the evening as Si closed it to 11-9.
At one point he sharply following a mistake.
But a sublime long red paved the way for him to win a tight 22nd frame and he completed his victory with a break of 74.
After beating Si, O’Sullivan said: “I am just grinding it out. I have had some work done on my cue today.
“And I am probably going to have to try and get a new ferrule and tip because it feels awful.
“I’m playing awful and the cue feels awful so it is the worst situation to be in as a player. I don’t think I can get any worse.”;
Having not played competitively since snapping his cue at the Championship League in January, O’Sullivan expressed reservations over his ability to be competitive when he arrived in Sheffield.
He added: “He (Si) played poor and let me off the hook.”;
