David Grace upsets Ronnie O’Sullivan at Northern Ireland Open

David Grace scored one of the biggest victories of his career, beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-3 in the second round of the Northern Ireland Open.

O’Sullivan swiftly established a 2-0 lead, but Grace kept his head as O’Sullivan forced a decider, one that the lower-ranked player would ultimately win.

With the defeat, the two men who has dominated the event for the past few years – O’Sullivan and Judd Trump, who was stunned by Aaron Hill a day earlier – are both gone.

O’Sullivan started quickly, capitalising on a failed long pot by Grace to build a 24 – Grace came to the table to making small breaks of eight and 16, but he missed a red to the bottom right and O’Sullivan punished him, winning the first frame with a break of 62. O’Sullivan took charge of the second frame after Grace briefly made a four, and produced a 46 before missing a tough long pink. Grace potted a little, and opted for a safety, one that failed to stop his opponent as he extended his lead to 2-0.

Grace seized his opportunity after a seven break and a foul, making a strong 57 that put his first frame on the board. And he swiftly levelled with an excellent 94, firmly announcing his presence. A fluke gave Grace his chance in frame five – he built a 64, not enough to clinch the frame in itself, but O’Sullivan had no response as a further 22 put Grace within one frame of victory. Frame six was a very scrappy one, with both players twitchy as they struggled to pot anything, but at 30-40, O’Sullivan cleared up to the black and it was a deciding frame.

When you play the legends, they get better when they go in front

– David Grace

A cut on the bottom right gave Grace the first chance – he made breaks of 21 and 29 to lead 51-0, and then O’Sullivan potted an excellent long red after a Grace safety. But he potted the white off the black, and Grace made sure to punish him, coming back and winning the frame and the match.

After the match, Grace said: “I made hard work of it! You don’t normally get a second chance. I missed the first chance to win 4-2 when I lost the cue ball and missed a smelly one.

“That’s normally when the snooker gods don’t forgive you, but luckily, they were on my side today.

“It was going really bad at 2-0. I’m proud that I managed to find the cue ball control to make a couple of breaks in the middle of the match.

“When you play the legends, they get better when they go in front. It was just nice to get myself a chance in that match.”

Grace will face Tian Pengfei in the third round of the tournament.