Mark Selby out of the English Open after Ben Woollaston clearance

World number one Mark Selby has perished at the last 64 stage of the English Open after an excellent deciding frame clearance from Ben Woollaston saw him defeat Selby in a quality contest. Both players had made century breaks early on in the contest before Selby forced a decider from 3-2 down. Selby had the first chance in the decider with a break of 60 getting him close to the winning line. However, a missed cut into the middle allowed Woollaston in for the 51 clearance that clinched him the match. 

Prior to that on the TV table there was a fantastic treat for the Crawley fans from Ronnie O'Sullivan, as he made a 147 maximum break to round off his 4-0 victory over Allan Taylor in which he also compiled a 135 break. The maximum is O'Sullivan's 15th in professional competition and the second of the week after Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made one on Tuesday, with O'Sullivan now slashing Thepchaiya's prize money. 

The televised drama did not end there as Judd Trump produced the performance of the week to come back and defeat Zhao Xintong in a classic encounter. Zhao led the match 2-0 early on before a run of 90 from Trump kept him in the contest. The young Chinese star hit back with an 84 to lead 3-1, but three successive centuries of 126 in frame five, a 108 to force the decider and a 109 to win the decider saw Trump come through. 

He will now face his good friend Jack Lisowski who also came from 3-1 behind to defeat Ian Burns, and also making a century break in the process too. Life was much easier for Mark Williams who is into the last 32 after a whitewash win over Alexander Ursenbacher, while John Higgins recorded his second 4-1 win of the week, Nigel Bond the victim on this occasion. 

Shaun Murphy made breaks of 89 and a closing 91 to hold off David Gilbert, who had made breaks of 108 and 78 to level at 2-2 from 2-0 down earlier in the contest, but Murphy ran out a 4-2 winner there. Neil Robertson was also a 4-2 winner against Oliver Lines, while Barry Hawkins opened up with two centuries in a high quality match with Sam Craigie, which Hawkins eventually came through 4-3 with a deciding frame 69. 

There were further top 16 casualties on the day however. 16th seed and former winner Liang Wenbo was taken down 4-2 by Eden Sharav, 13th seed Marco Fu fell to Mei Xiwen to continue his poor start to the season. Luca Brecel's poor form continued as he lost out 4-1 to Ali Carter, while Mark Allen lost out to young Yuan Sijun, despite making breaks of 76, 87 and 92 to his opponents high of just 52. 

Stephen Maguire kept up his 100% record against Yan Bingtao after winning the final three frames for an eventual 4-2 win, but European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson suffered a shock loss as Jordan Brown came from 3-0 down to defeat the most recent tournament winner 4-3. 

Last 64 results:

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 Allan Taylor
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Jimmy White
Eden Sharav 4-2 Liang Wenbo
Craig Steadman 4-1 Chris Wakelin
Alan McManus 4-0 David Lilley
Neil Robertson 4-2 Oliver Lines
Luo Honghao 4-1 Stuart Carrington
Anthony McGill 4-0 Akani Songsermsawad
Judd Trump 4-3 Zhao Xintong
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Ian Burns
Ryan Day 4-0 Zhang Yong
Mark King 4-3 Peter Ebdon
Mark Davis 4-0 Adam Stefanow
Mei Xiwen 4-1 Marco Fu
Martin Gould 4-2 Zhang Jiankang
John Higgins 4-1 Nigel Bond

Ben Woollaston 4-3 Mark Selby
Ricky Walden 4-0 Lukas Kleckers
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Hossein Vafei
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3 Thor Chuan Leong
Matthew Selt 4-0 Sam Baird
Ali Carter 4-1 Luca Brecel
Daniel Wells 4-3 Lee Walker
Barry Hawkins 4-3 Sam Craigie
Shaun Murphy 4-2 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins 4-3 Elliot Slessor
Yuan Sijun 4-3 Mark Allen
Noppon Saengkham 4-2 Steven Hallworth
Jordan Brown 4-3 Jimmy Robertson
Stephen Maguire 4-2 Yan Bingtao
Zhou Yuelong 4-2 Xu Si
Mark Williams 4-0 Alexander Ursenbacher

Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens
Eden Sharav Vs Craig Steadman
Neil Robertson Vs Alan McManus
Anthony McGill Vs Luo Honghao
Judd Trump Vs Jack Lisowski
Ryan Day Vs Mark King
Mark Davis Vs Mei Xiwen
John Higgins Vs Martin Gould

Ricky Walden Vs Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ali Carter Vs Matthew Selt
Barry Hawkins Vs Daniel Wells
Shaun Murphy Vs Robert Milkins
Noppon Saengkham Vs Yuan Sijun
Stephen Maguire Vs Jordan Brown
Mark Williams Vs Zhou Yuelong

Once again, the odd upset here or there has not taken away from what is a fascinating line-up for the last 32 in the first half of Thursday's play. Ronnie O'Sullivan takes on Matthew Stevens in what you would expect to be another simple afternoon's work for the Rocket.

Neil Robertson will be looking to kick on from his two 4-2 wins so far this week but faces a tough task against Alan McManus who is yet to drop a frame this week. McManus was very close to beating Luca Brecel on home turf recently and could take advantage against Robertson if his inconsistent form continues. 

Luo Honghao has had two impressive wins this week, coming from 3-0 down to beat Adam Duffy in round one, before a 4-2 win against Stuart Carrington that also featured some heavy scoring. Luo has also beaten Anthony McGill before, at this year's China Open and the Scotsman has had a slow start to the season. Two whitewash wins at the start of this week suggest that McGill could be about to get his campaign going but Luo should cause him plenty of problems. 

Good friends Jack Lisowski and Judd Trump will face off in what always promises to be a top tie. Trump will be confident after a flawless finish against Zhao Xintong that might just ignite his season. For Lisowski, two wins on Thursday would put him into yet another quarter-final and he has a pretty good record against Trump and he certainly will not fear his opponent. Expect plenty of big breaks in this one and another game that goes to the wire. 

Ryan Day has had a comfortable week so far but now faces Mark King in a repeat of their European Masters quarter-final recently. King won on that occasion but has had to battle much harder this week against Ashley Carty and Peter Ebdon to reach this stage while Day looks to be in really good form. 

John Higgins faces Martin Gould in what is a repeat of their Australian Open final from a few years ago. Gould has had a quiet start to the new season but a victory here would soon change all that. Higgins showed little signs of vulnerability against Nigel Bond, contrary to some of his downbeat comments in his post-match interview from a day beforehand, but the comments he made there will just give Gould that added bit of hope in this one. 

Shaun Murphy was in good touch to beat David Gilbert in round two, in what was a tough draw, but having come through that should help build his confidence after a slow start to the season. In the last 32 he faces the ever dangerous Robert Milkins who took his deciding frame against Elliot Slessor in round two in one visit and he is always capable of taking down the top players, just ask Neil Robertson who seems to have suffered against Milkins more than most. Milkins will need to be in good scoring form against Murphy, if he can keep up the play that took him through against Gilbert, who did not look to have done much wrong in that contest. 

Finally, World Champion Mark Williams takes on another of the young Chinese players in Zhou Yuelong. While Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong and Lu Haotian have started to fire more and more over the recent months, Zhou has gone a little quiet but his talent is still there for all to see and the odd quiet period has to be expected from players of his age. He is still more than capable of making life difficult for Williams who is yet to be tested in Crawley so far. His wins over Dominic Dale and Alexander Ursenbacher have been for the loss of just one frame and did not really put him under pressure, so you feel Zhou will have to come out of the blocks quickly to put any heat on the ice cold Welshman. 

Thursday will be a busy day on the baize with the last 32 on Thursday morning and afternoon being followed by the last 16 in the evening, and all of those matches will be played over the best-of-7 frames once again, with a great selection of matches available on Eurosport TV and the Player once again.