An irritable Ronnie O'Sullivan clashed with referee Desislava Bozhilova before crashing out of the World Snooker Championship at the quarter-final stage.

The Rocket was beaten 13-10 by Stuart Bingham as his hopes of winning a record eighth Crucible title went up in smoke.

But there was a flashpoint in the 21st frame when play was interrupted by spectators watching the adjacent match between Kyren Wilson and John Higgins returning to their seats.

O'Sullivan was about to take a shot when he was distracted by the noise and movement across the auditorium and he opted to sit down until the crowd settled.

Bozhilova attempted to prevent anyone else from entering the arena with the other match at the mid-session interval but wasn't successful.

She said: 'They're not going to let anybody in. They're all sat down now. We might be waiting 20 minutes, you know what I mean?'

When O'Sullivan finally returned to the table, he told the Bulgarian referee to 'just chill' before potting a long red.

However, it wasn't the prelude to a victory as Bingham pulled away to win that frame and the next two.

Earlier, O'Sullivan claimed 'the referees have got it in for me' after a contentious moment over a rolling black.

In the 12th frame, O'Sullivan potted the black for 29, with Bingham on 43. However, when Bozhilova re-spotted the black, it obstructed his shot at the next red by rolling slightly closer to the cue ball.

In a show of good sportsmanship, O'Sullivan offered Bingham the chance to look closely at the situation.

After the black's position was adjusted slightly, he could have potentially potted the red but instead, O'Sullivan decided to play a safety shot. Bingham ultimately won the frame.

During the break between sessions, O'Sullivan hit out at Bozhilova in an interview on Eurosport.

'It's just a normal day for me, a bit of snooker, a bit of food, chill out, went to the gym this morning, nice day,' he said.

'To be honest with you some of the referees have got it in for me. I just wanted to prove to her that she had got it wrong.

'Then I thought I didn't feel good about having to pot the ball after that but I just wanted to make a point. The point was made.

'I'm not that hungry to win in that way, I'm more of a principled person.'

The Crucible semi-finals will see Wilson take on David Gilbert and Bingham play Jak Jones, with the two best-of-33 matches underway on Thursday.

After his defeat, O'Sullivan said his 'arm was twisted' to come and compete at the Crucible this year.

'I wasn't going to be playing in this one until a new sponsor came along and said [you need to play in it],' he said.

'I wasn't going to play Manchester or this because of how I was feeling about playing. So they twisted my arm.