English Open champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and World Open winner Ding Junhui both fell in the last 64 of the International Championship on Monday.
O'Sullivan was blown away by the 17-year-old that continues to show quality with Yan Bingtao beating him 6-1. The one frame O'Sullivan won in frame three went to a brilliant 111 break, but he could not keep this standard going in the rest of the match. He was shut out in many ways by Yan who racked up breaks of 52, 68, 73, 89 and 91 in a sensational win that adds O'Sullivan to the growing list of top players that the talented young man has scored victories against.
Meanwhile, Chinese number one Ding Junhui was sent packing by Oliver Lines. Lines came from 3-1 adrift and won each of the last three frames in a 6-4 victory that featured breaks of 78 in the eight frame and a run of 71 to clinch victory. Ding was far from top form and only made one half-century break in the match which was a 62 in frame four. For Lines it is one of the bigger wins in his career, to beat Ding on home soil, while the 2013 International Champion will now be looking to improve his form in next week's Champion of Champions.
There were other top 16 casualties in the opening round at the venue in Daqing as Jack Lisowski continued his impressive recent form by thrashing seventh seed Barry Hawkins 6-2. For Hawkins, a poor start to the season continues as he has only reached the last 32 in one ranking event this season, and has not been passed that stage in his six completed ranking tournaments so far in the 2017/2018 campaign.
Mark Joyce bagged his second win of the season against sixteenth seed Anthony McGill with a comfortable 6-2 victory there against the Scotsman. Ricky Walden though avoided another early exit by coming back from 5-1 down against Peter Ebdon to win 6-5, shutting Ebdon out in the latter stages of the contest with runs of 58, 59, 98 and a 75 in the deciding frame. This could spark a much needed return to form for the 2014 International Champion.
There was also a big comeback for Riga Masters champion Ryan Day. The Welshman was 4-0 to Kurt Maflin who had piled on three centuries in those opening four frames. Day though came back to 4-4 and would eventually go on to win 6-5. Shaun Murphy had to recover a 3-0 deficit after a good start from Mei Xiwen. Mei was very unfortunate in the final frame decider to split the reds far and wide, but go in-off to leave Murphy in for what became a match-winning contribution. Defending champion Mark Selby also needed a run of frames as he won the final three in his 6-4 win over in-form Cao Yupeng.
Liang Wenbo and Kyren Wilson also had to come through in deciding frames, but things were much more comfortable for the likes of Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Luca Brecel and Judd Trump.
Last 64 Results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford 6-5 Ian Preece
Ryan Day 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams 6-4 Yu De Lu
Joe Perry 6-3 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams W/O Stuart Bingham
Matthew Selt 6-3 Michael Holt
Neil Robertson 6-2 Gary Wilson
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Mei Xiwen
Zhang Yong 6-3 Alan McManus
Ali Carter 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire 6-2 John Astley
Martin Gould 6-3 David Grace
Kyren Wilson 6-5 Tian Pengfei
Robert Milkins 6-2 Graeme Dott
Oliver Lines 6-4 Ding Junhui
Judd Trump 6-0 Ian Burns
Jimmy Robertson 6-5 Robin Hull
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Lee Walker
Li Hang 6-1 David Gilbert
Mark King 6-1 Rory McLeod
Mark Allen 6-4 Zhao Xintong
Martin O'Donnell 6-3 Sanderson Lam
Akani Songsermsawad W/O Hossein Vafei (Hossein had visa issues and flight trouble)
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 6-2 Eden Sharav
Yan Bingtao 6-1 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Mark Joyce 6-2 Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel 6-1 Li Yuan
Dominic Dale 6-3 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 6-1 Niu Zhuang
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Tom Ford
Mark Williams Vs Ryan Day
Joe Perry Vs Robbie Williams
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhang Yong
Ali Carter Vs Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson Vs Martin Gould
Robert Milkins Vs Oliver Lines
Judd Trump Vs Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo Vs Li Hang
Mark Allen Vs Mark King
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Martin O'Donnell
Jack Lisowski Vs Xiao Guodong
Yan Bingtao Vs Ricky Walden
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Joyce
John Higgins Vs Dominic Dale
A brilliant line-up awaits for the last 32 on Tuesday. We have an all-Welsh clash between Williams and Day for the third time this season, with Day winning in Riga and Williams recording a 5-0 win when the pair met at the China Championship.
Joe Perry and Robbie Williams will face off, a match that in the past has caused controversy because of the comments Perry made about Williams after losing to him in the 2015 UK Championship. The pair have met once since in the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, where Williams again came out victorious.
There is a meeting of two sight right coached players as Shaun Murphy plays Zhang Yong. Both will look for better starts after Murphy went 3-0 behind and Zhang fell 3-1 adrift before coming back to win their respective last 64 ties.
Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire also met at this same stage of the International Championship a year ago. On that occasion Carter, who also leads the overall head-to-head between the two, came from 5-2 down to beat the Scotsman. He also came out victorious by a 5-1 scoreline when the two met at the last 32 stage of the German Masters.
Judd Trump was in fine form with three centuries in an easy 6-0 win over Ian Burns. He should get more opposition from Jimmy Robertson though, who today saw off Robin Hull 6-5, making a break of 141 in the process.
Akani Songsermsawad will play Martin O'Donnell in the last 32 after benefiting from a first round walkover after Hossein Vafei was too late for his match. The Iranian had trouble obtaining a visa to play in the event, and to rub salt into that wound his flight out to China was delayed eventually causing him to miss the match.
Xiao Guodong and Jack Lisowski for me is a meeting of two great talents who are both getting back to top form having under achieved in recent years. Xiao Guodong beat Selby in Barnsley and has been scoring excellently of late, while Lisowski will be growing in confidence with every top player he has beaten over the last few weeks.
Finally, I also want to quickly mention Ricky Walden against Yan Bingtao. The pair met on three occasions last season with Walden winning them all, despite Yan actually finishing above Walden on last season's individual money list. Walden scored much more like he is capable of in his unbelievable comeback against Peter Ebdon who was also playing very well in that game. Meanwhile, Yan will have a big job on his hands to follow up such a stunning victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The coverage will once again be on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player and all matches on Tuesday will be played over the best-of-11 frames format.
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