It was a day of major surprises at the China Open in Beijing, as four-time world champion John Higgins and the game’s hottest young star Judd Trump were both knocked out in the first round.
Higgins looked likely to win his match against Robert Milkins when he went 4-3 in front, but the Englishman won the final two frames to claim a fine 5-4 victory.
World No 1 Trump was then beaten 5-3 by 21-year-old Jack Lisowski. It is the third time in four meetings that Lisowski has beaten the former UK champion.
The defeats will come as a concern for both Higgins and Trump less than a month before the World Championship begins in Sheffield.
Milkins claimed afterwards that he thought Higgins deserved to win saying: ‘I nicked a few frames against John and luckily for me he didn’t play well, although he played better than I did and probably deserved to win. The only frame I felt good in was the last one.’
He also explained throwing his cue on the floor during the eighth frame, adding: ‘It was just pure frustration. I’ve been playing so badly it’s unbelievable, I don’t feel like a professional at the moment. Sometimes we let our emotions out.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done it so I apologise to John but it hurts me when I play like that.’
Elsewhere, Matthew Stevens became the third member of the world’s top 10 to lose in the Chinese capital, when Rory McLeod beat him 5-2.
And the defending champion Peter Ebdon won’t be repeating his 2012 success, after a 5-3 defeat to Scotland’s Marcus Campbell.
One former world champion that did make it through was Shaun Murphy, who battled to a 5-3 win over Andrew Higginson.
Ali Carter, facing a battle to stay in the top 16 and avoid having to qualify for the Crucible, beat Chinese wildcard Zhao Xintong.
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