Ronnie O'Sullivan has crashed out of the China Open at the last 64 stage, despite making a 147. Elliot Slessor was the man to take down the Rocket, having done so earlier on this season in the Northern Ireland Open.
Slessor cruised into a 4-0 lead against an under par O'Sullivan, but it was in the fifth frame that O'Sullivan made the maximum break, and for it he will collect the £35,000 rolling 147 bonus and the £7,000 high break prize - as long as another one is not made in the remainder of the competition. As for Slessor, his match high break of 64 helped him close out the victory in frame eight.
In the same session as Players and UK Champion O'Sullivan exited, so too did the runner-up from both of those events. Shaun Murphy, who may well still be suffering from the neck injury that has plagued him in recent weeks. Chris Wakelin took full advantage of that making breaks of 85, 54, 54, 56 and 58 on the way to an emphatic 6-0 whitewash.
Defending China Open champion Mark Selby is into the last 32 though after two battling performances so far this week. On Monday, his last 128 match against Wang Yuchen saw him fall 2-0 behind before coming through 6-4. Then in his last 64 match on Tuesday he was again run close by Scott Donaldson, who defeated Selby at the same stage of this season's UK Championship, but Selby fought hard and managed to get over the line by the same score.
Ding Junhui also had to battle hard to come through his last 64 tie with Craig Steadman. Ding found himself 4-3 down in the tie and Steadman had made two centuries in the contest to put himself ahead. The Chinese number one stepped in the last three frames though as Steadman only scored a further 24 points, while Ding turned it around to win 6-4.
The race for the Crucible has become much clearer after the first round in Beijing. Mark Allen dispatched of Noppon Saengkham 6-1, making three centuries and a break of 98 in the process. The victory means that Ryan Day will have to go to qualifying while Allen's almost secure of his place.
Deciding frame losses for Stephen Maguire against Fergal O'Brien and China's number two Liang Wenbo against Duane Jones means they too will also be going to the qualifiers. A 6-5 win for Mark King means he could still qualify automatically by making the final, while anyone else currently out of the 16 would have to take the top prize on Sunday.
There are still a number of big top 16 players in the draw though. John Higgins recorded a comfortable 6-2 win over Martin O'Donnell, while in-form Mark Williams cruised to a 6-1 defeat of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the last 64.
Neil Robertson avenged his International Championship loss to Robbie Williams with a 6-3 win, while Kyren Wilson came from 3-0 down to overcome Andrew Higginson with six frames in a row. Barry Hawkins was also a 6-3 winner over Sam Baird, putting Baird in even deeper trouble as he looks to stay on the professional tour.
There was another early exit though for Ali Carter as he went down 6-4 to former China Open runner-up and recent Welsh Open semi-finalist Gary Wilson.
World Snooker Federation champion Luo Honghao has already had an excellent week in Beijing. As a wildcard in the tournament he overcame Basem Eltahhan in the preliminary round 6-1 on Monday morning, then in the evening session he faced Stuart Carrington and won again 6-2 to book a last 64 encounter with Anthony McGill.
It looked like the run would come to an end when the former Indian Open champion McGill took a 4-2 lead having made a 126 in frame three, while Luo had a century in frame five. In frame seven Luo then produced a 143 to close the gap and ultimately he would win four successive frames and make an 84 in frame ten to secure a 6-4 victory and march into the last 32.
Meanwhile, a special mention should go to Sam Craigie who was on fire in defeating Martin Gould 6-4. Craigie made four centuries in the match, and back-to-back tons from 4-4 to secure an important win for his tour survival.
Last 64 results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Scott Donaldson
Ben Woollaston 6-5 Lee Walker
Lu Haotian 6-4 Liam Highfield
Fergal O'Brien 6-5 Stephen Maguire
Michael Holt 6-4 Mark Davis
Mark Williams 6-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Yan Bingtao 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen 6-1 Noppon Saengkham
John Higgins 6-2 Martin O'Donnell
Jack Lisowski 6-1 Anthony Hamilton
Gary Wilson 6-4 Ali Carter
Joe Perry 6-0 Chris Totten
Kyren Wilson 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Mark King 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Xiao Guodong 6-5 Jimmy Robertson
Ding Junhui 6-4 Craig Steadman
Jak Jones 6-5 Nigel Bond
Zhou Yuelong 6-2 Chen Zhe
Sam Craigie 6-4 Martin Gould
Neil Robertson 6-3 Robbie Williams
Stuart Bingham 6-5 Matthew Stevens
Ricky Walden 6-0 Hamza Akbar
Graeme Dott 6-2 Mark Joyce
Chris Wakelin 6-0 Shaun Murphy
Barry Hawkins 6-3 Sam Baird
Michael White 6-5 Paul Davison
David Gilbert 6-3 Mike Dunn
Cao Yupeng 6-4 Luca Brecel
Luo Honghao 6-4 Anthony McGill
Duane Jones 6-5 Liang Wenbo
Tom Ford 6-2 Yuan Sijun
Elliot Slessor 6-2 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby Vs Ben Woollaston
Fergal O'Brien Vs Lu Haotian
Mark Williams Vs Michael Holt
Mark Allen Vs Yan Bingtao
John Higgins Vs Jack Lisowski
Joe Perry Vs Gary Wilson
Kyren Wilson Vs Mark King
Ding Junhui Vs Xiao Guodong
Zhou Yuelong Vs Jak Jones
Neil Robertson Vs Sam Craigie
Stuart Bingham Vs Ricky Walden
Graeme Dott Vs Chris Wakelin
Barry Hawkins Vs Michael White
David Gilbert Vs Cao Yupeng
Duane Jones Vs Luo Honghao
Tom Ford Vs Elliot Slessor
Despite some surprises in the first couple of days in Beijing there are still plenty of intriguing ties in the last 32.
Ricky Walden has beaten Stuart Bingham in both their major Chinese meetings, 5-1 in the 2016 China Open quarter-finals and 10-4 in the 2014 Wuxi Classic final. Both have had success in China in the past but had differing paths to reach the last 32. Walden came through without dropping a frame against Hamza Akbar, while Stuart Bingham came from behind to come through 6-5 against Matthew Stevens. Given the quality of both players it would be no surprise to see this one going the distance.
Mark Allen will face Yan Bingtao for the third time this season. Allen has won both of those previous meetings and will be under much less pressure now that his Crucible spot is almost secure. If he keeps up the scoring form displayed in round one he will be very hot to handle. Yan meanwhile had to come from behind and won the last three frames of a 6-5 win over Kurt Maflin.
Four ton Sam Craigie now faces another tough tie against Neil Robertson. The Australian looked in good form against Robbie Williams but will face a real challenge here if Craigie can keep up his heavy scoring displayed in round one. After a display like that Craigie should be full of confidence and could well score another upset here.
Barry Hawkins faces Michael White, and despite White being a very tough opponent, Hawkins has only lost to the Welshman once in nine previous meetings, most recently in the Shanghai Masters in November. White had to grind out victory against Paul Davison eventually coming through 6-5 while Hawkins will have been happy to come through 6-3 against Sam Baird in the last 64.
Joe Perry will now face Gary Wilson after Wilson's victory over Ali Carter. Perry was in fine round one form himself though with some heavy scoring in a 6-0 win over Chris Totten. Perry has looked in better form this season than he ended last season with and a good run here could tee him up nicely for the World Championship qualifiers, unless he were to win the tournament this week of course.
One of the ties of the round sees Ding Junhui take on Xiao Guodong in a tasty all-Chinese clash. The pair of course contested the 2013 Shanghai Masters final, which Ding won as he did when the pair met in this season's World Open last 32 - a tournament Ding would go on to win. Xiao was impressive in round one taking on an in-form Jimmy Robertson. Xiao made two centuries, one of which forced the decider in which he made a 99 break to win the match. Ding meanwhile had to battle against Craig Steadman and given the form Xiao has been in this season and some of the players he has beaten, Ding can expect a similarly tough tie here.
After the two battles he has already faced to make it into the last 32, defending champion Mark Selby now faces an all-Leicester battle with Ben Woollaston. Woollaston overcame Lee Walker in a mammoth last 64 tie so he will battle hardened for this one. Selby looks out of sorts and low on confidence at the moment so if Woollaston can play as he has done against some of the top players this season, scoring well win or lose, then he certainly has a chance of causing the upset.
The pick of the bunch though has to be John Higgins against Jack Lisowski. The pair have played once already this season, with Higgins coming through comfortably in the last 128 of the Scottish Open. Lisowski may have a better chance here though in more 'neutral' territory. The left-hander was a comfortable 6-1 winner on Monday morning against Anthony Hamilton with a top break of 114. Higgins was also an easy winner in the last 64 and you feel if one thing will separate these two players it will be the Scot's tactical prowess.
Either way there should be some very entertaining second round clashes here over the best-of-11 frames with the winners moving from a guaranteed £11,000 to the £18,000 guaranteed to last 16 losers, so there is big money on offer throughout the week.
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