Zhao Xintong inadvertently broke the pocket during his World Snooker Championship clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan. During the thrilling first session of their semi-final, the netting of the pocket could no longer withhold the pressure placed on them by the balls Zhao had potted.

The Chinese star reached a break of 59 in the eighth frame, and decided to pot the black. His shot lined up perfectly with the bottom right pocket. However, he had already potted several reds into the same corner of the table. Zhao took aim and safely rolled the black into the pocket, sealing a score of 66.

But there was immediately an "Ooooh!" from the crowd as a red ball came crashing onto the floor. It became apparent that the netting of the pocket had split, allowing the balls to roll onto the floor.

“Well, has he broken the pocket? He has! That was a real pocket breaker,” said BBC commentator Dennis Taylor.

Stephen Hendry, co-commentating alongside Taylor, quipped: "Good job it's the last frame! Great temperament he's shown in this frame, Zhao Xintong."

Remarkably, as the frame was nearly over, play continued without anyone attempting to fix the issue with the pocket. One red ball remained on the floor next to the table for the remaining few minutes.

Zhao subsequently potted the pink in the same pocket, with the crowd sarcastically cheering as another ball fell to the floor of The Crucible.

Loving the humour of the crowd, Taylor and eight-time world champion Hendry continued to laugh along. "God knows where this next black is going to go," joked Taylor. "Is it going to go on the floor as well?"

Zhao potted the black in the middle pocket to seal the frame at the end of the session. An epic contest saw the match finely balanced at 4-4, with the second session of the best-of-33-frame semi-final set to begin at 10am tomorrow.

O'Sullivan started extremely poorly, finding himself two frames behind against the highly-rated Zhao. A 73-break saw O'Sullivan draw level at 2-2.

Zhao went back ahead before O'Sullivan levelled again, before the Rocket found himself in front of the first time in the match. However, his 28-year-old opponent found himself level after accidentally breaking the pocket. The match is now evenly poised ahead of the second session.