O'Sullivan dealt first defeat of year

Ronnie O'Sullivan reacts during the second round game against China’s Yu Delu in the Players' Championship Grand Final in Preston March 27, 2014. [Photo/icpress.cn]

Ronnie O'Sullivan suffers his first loss of 2014 against China's Yu Delu in the Players' Championship Grand Final in Preston.

O'Sullivan, who won the Masters and the Welsh Open earlier this year, became the latest high-profile casualty after just his second match at the Guildhall.

Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and Stuart Bingham - the four top-ranked players in the world - have also been sent packing early from the tournament.

The prized scalp for Yu, ranked 48 in the world, means the Chinese will contest his first quarter-final in a ranking event against Barry Hawkins, who edged Ryan Day 4-3 in a late-finishing match.

O'Sullivan said: "I played okay today but he is a very good player. I started slowly and that cost me. Sometimes a defeat can do you good because having won the Masters and the Welsh I was wondering when the run would come to an end. I can knuckle down now and get my game into shape."

Judd Trump eased into the last eight with a comfortable 4-0 win over Haikou World Open champion Shaun Murphy and will now play Joe Perry for a place in the semi-finals. Perry booked his place with a 4-1 win over David Gilbert.

"My safety was good and my positional play was the best it's been for a while," said Trump. "When Ronnie goes out, everyone perks up a bit and thinks they have a better chance of winning, but I've got a tough game next against Joe, he has beaten me the last couple of times we've played so he's favourite."

Gerard Greene came back from 3-0 down to beat Anthony Hamilton 4-3, while there were also wins for Mark Allen, Marco Fu and John Higgins.