Judd Trump suffered a shock exit in the first round of the World Grand Prix as Michael White defeated him 4-1 in Preston.
It continues a disappointing start to 2018 for Trump following his agonising Masters semi-final loss to Kyren Wilson while he also failed to qualify for the China Open.
White, the world number 28, is aiming for the third ranking title of his career having won his second at the Paul Hunter Classic earlier in the season.
White compiled runs of 55 and 89 on his way to establishing a 3-1 advantage. The fifth frame then went to a re-spot with the scores tied at 42-42 and White forced himself over the line with a sweetly cued black from long range.
He told www.worldsnooker.com: “I’ve been practising hard over the last week or so. I’ve tweaked a couple of things with my game and it didn’t quite come out as I would have liked tonight. I felt that my cue action was too short and I have just tried to lengthen my backswing. I still need to work on it."
Anthony McGill, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson also claimed 4-1 victories as they beat Cao Yupeng, Ricky Walden and David Gilbert respectively.
In the afternoon session, Masters champion Mark Allen suffered a shock 4-3 defeat to Xiao Guodong.
Despite lifting a Triple Crown title for the first time last month, he's struggling in the ranking tournaments and is currently 16th in the rankings and needs to stay there if he's to automatically qualify for the Crucible.
It was going so well for the Northern Irishman made breaks of 86 and 51 to storm into a 3-0 lead but Xiao showed his resolve by winning four frames on the bounce, with breaks of 89, 78 and 71, to reach the last 16.
John Higgins also won a thrilling clash with Ali Carter 4-3 to book his place against Xiao in the last 16 and nearly claimed a 147 break along the way after potting 12 reds with blacks. However, he eventually broke down on 96.
Stephen Maguire also had an attempt break down on 96 in the final frame of his 4-0 victory over Li Hang.
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