STUART Bingham was pleased with his start to the season, despite his quarter-final exit at the Players Tour Championship to the mercurial Ronnie O’Sullivan yesterday.

Bingham has had a good week at the domestic circuit’s curtain raiser in Sheffield, with wins against Andrew Milliard, Jamie Burnett and Mark Davis booking him a last eight meeting with the Rocket.

But he got off to a slow start against the three-time world champion, who left Bingham no chances as he raced into a 2-0 lead.

But Bingham, 34, responded with breaks of 70 and 80 to level at 2-2.

And the potter from Vange had a chance to go in front in the fifth, but he was unable to clear up the remaining 59 on the table as O’Sullivan held on for 3-2.

And in the next frame Bingham missed a red and O’Sullivan made a century to book his place in the semi-finals.

Yesterday, while on the long drive back to Essex, he said he was pleased with his week’s work.

He said: “I was playing in Thailand last week, and I was not match fit when I arrived in Sheffield.

“But I made 115 in the deciding frame with Davis, and came from 66 down in the decider to beat Maguire, whcih was encouraging.

“And I had my chances against Ronnie, but that is how it goes against him.

“But overall I’m happy with how I did here, and now I’m ready to really get stuck into this season.”

Bingham returns to action on next Thursday (June 30) in Sheffield in qualifying action for the Australian Goldfields Open.

If he wins his match against whoever comes through his side of the draw, he will face world number four Ding Junhui in the last 32 at the event Down Under.

It is the first full ranking event of the season - and the first one ever in Australia - and runs from July 18-24 at the Bendigo Stadium.