World number one Mark Selby heads the list of players to suffer a shock first round exit at the 2018 UK Championships in York after losing 6-3 to amateur James Cahill.
Also among those to bow out early was former champion Shaun Murphy who lost 6-3 to Chen Feilong from 3-1 up, while Ryan Day fell 6-2 to Joe O'Connor.
Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill were two former top 16 players to suffer bad defeats as well in the last 128. Former runner-up Liang was 5-1 ahead of Sam Baird and flying having already made two centuries, but Baird won all of the last five frames to defeat the former Chinese number two 6-5.
McGill meanwhile was also cruising into the last 64 seemingly as he led Lu Ning 5-2, but Lu won the last four frames there with McGill scoring just a handful of points as the Scot was taken out 6-5.
John Higgins just managed to avoid suffering the same fate as he held off a valiant fightback from Thailand's ex-pro Dechawat Poomjaeng to win the deciding frame and advance to the last 64.
Another former champion Stephen Maguire came from 3-1 down against Simon Lichtenberg to rattle off five straight frames and defeat the German 6-3 while Luca Brecel overturned a 3-0 deficit against Fan Zhengyi to win 6-4.
There were simple victories though for the other top players as Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump and Marco Fu all won their opening round ties 6-0 to progress to the TV stages that start on Saturday afternoon. Jack Lisowski, Ding Junhui and defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan were all 6-1 winners while there were 6-2 victories for Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and World champion Mark Williams.
Joe Perry holds the high break so far at 143 which he made in a 6-0 win over John Astley while Zhao Xintong lost a dramatic tie 6-5 to Daniel Wells in which he chipped the clue off the table when Wells needed snookers at 5-4 down. European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson won his match against Jordan Brown 6-4 after being taken off at 5-4 up and having to wait several hours to close out victory. English Open runner-up Mark Davis won 6-4 against Sam Craigie, while 1997 world champion Ken Doherty won five successive frames to defeat Yuan Sijun 6-2. Jimmy White was not as fortunate though losing 6-3 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Northern Ireland Open semi-finalist Eden Sharav fought back from 5-1 down to force a decider only to end up losing it to Akani Songsermsawad, while there were also first round exits for former top 16 players Ricky Walden and Michael White.
Last 128 results:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Luke Simmonds
Ken Doherty 6-2 Yuan Sijun
Zhou Yuelong 6-1 Soheil Vahedi
Mark Davis 6-4 Sam Craigie
Marco Fu 6-0 Hammad Miah
Luo Honghao 6-0 Michael Georgiou
Jack Lisowski 6-1 Zhang Jiankang
Mei Xiwen 6-5 Fergal O'Brien
Tian Pengfei 6-4 Lu Haotian
Jimmy Robertson 6-4 Jordan Brown
Martin O'Donnell 6-4 Xu Si
Chen Feilong 6-3 Shaun Murphy
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Alfie Burden
Xiao Guodong 6-4 Sean O'Sullivan
Matthew Selt 6-2 Zhang Yong
Ding Junhui 6-1 Adam Stefanow
Judd Trump 6-0 David Lilley
Dominic Dale 6-4 Gerard Greene
Mark King 6-5 Elliot Slessor
Li Hang 6-3 Lee Walker
Joe O'Connor 6-2 Ryan Day
Andrew Higginson 6-2 Nigel Bond
Joe Perry 6-0 John Astley
Michael Holt 6-1 Chen Zifan
Mark Joyce 6-3 Niu Zhuang
Lu Ning 6-5 Anthony McGill
Liam Highfield 6-4 Robin Hull
Luca Brecel 6-4 Fan Zhengyi
Tom Ford 6-5 Craig Steadman
Robert Milkins 6-1 Sanderson Lam
Alan McManus 6-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
John Higgins 6-5 Dechawat Poomjaeng
James Cahill 6-3 Mark Selby
Akani Songsermsawad 6-5 Eden Sharav
Jak Jones 6-5 Ricky Walden
Joe Swail 6-5 Michael White
Stuart Bingham 6-0 James Wattana
Kurt Maflin 6-3 Zhang Anda
David Gilbert 6-3 Ashley Carty
Peter Ebdon 6-2 Chris Totten
Paul Davison 6-1 Stuart Carrington
Yan Bingtao 6-1 Lukas Kleckers
Mike Dunn 6-4 Allan Taylor
Kyren Wilson 6-0 Andy Lee
Gary Wilson 6-4 Billy Castle
Sam Baird 6-5 Liang Wenbo
Ian Burns 6-5 Robbie Williams
Barry Hawkins 6-0 Jamie Clarke
Mark Allen 6-2 Basem Eltahhan
Rory McLeod 6-3 Peter Lines
Martin Gould 6-1 Harvey Chandler
Hossein Vafei 6-5 Ashley Hugill
Neil Robertson 6-2 Kishan Hirani
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 Jimmy White
Graeme Dott 6-2 Oliver Lines
Matthew Stevens 6-4 Ross Muir
Chris Wakelin 6-1 Duane Jones
Ali Carter 6-3 Thor Chuan Leong
Scott Donaldson 6-3 Li Yuan
Stephen Maguire 6-3 Simon Lichtenberg
Noppon Saengkham 6-1 Hamza Akbar
Rod Lawler 6-1 Anthony Hamilton
Daniel Wells 6-5 Zhao Xintong
Mark Williams 6-2 Adam Duffy
That's just the first round at the Barbican so there is plenty more drama to come over the next nine days. The BBC's coverage will begin on Saturday afternoon with the first set of last 64 which again are over the best-of-11 frames, while the event is also broadcast on Eurosport who showed the last 128 round on their online Player service.
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ken Doherty
Zhou Yuelong Vs Mark Davis
Marco Fu Vs Luo Honghao
Jack Lisowski Vs Mei Xiwen
Jimmy Robertson Vs Tian Pengfei
Martin O'Donnell Vs Chen Feilong
Xiao Guodong Vs Ben Woollaston
Ding Junhui Vs Matthew Selt
Judd Trump Vs Dominic Dale
Mark King Vs Li Hang
Andrew Higginson Vs Joe O'Connor
Joe Perry Vs Michael Holt
Mark Joyce Vs Lu Ning
Luca Brecel Vs Liam Highfield
Robert Milkins Vs Tom Ford
John Higgins Vs Alan McManus
Akani Songsermsawad Vs James Cahill
Joe Swail Vs Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham Vs Kurt Maflin
David Gilbert Vs Peter Ebdon
Yan Bingtao Vs Paul Davison
Kyren Wilson Vs Mike Dunn
Gary Wilson Vs Sam Baird
Barry Hawkins Vs Ian Burns
Mark Allen Vs Rory McLeod
Martin Gould Vs Hossein Vafei
Neil Robertson Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Graeme Dott Vs Matthew Stevens
Ali Carter Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Stephen Maguire Vs Scott Donaldson
Noppon Saengkham Vs Rod Lawler
Mark Williams Vs Daniel Wells
There are plenty of entertaining last 64 matches to follow here starting with Ronnie O'Sullivan against 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty. The Irishman was superb in defeating Yuan Sijun who started really brightly in their match on Tuesday afternoon. Repeating that on the TV table will be a completely different story for Doherty who will be up against it from ball one against O'Sullivan, given the form he continues to show in every event he enters at the moment. If he can get into the sort of groove he did at times against Yuan though, then Doherty has a chance of at least giving O'Sullivan a bit more of a test.
Marco Fu has a huge exam to pass as he takes on exciting Chinese player Luo Honghao. Both players won by a 6-0 scoreline in the last 128 and Luo has impressed me so far. He was of course a quarter-finalist at the English Open and could cause trouble for a player in Fu who has not had many confidence boosting results in the last few months. He should be able to take something from his win over Miah but he certainly has a tough task ahead of him here against someone who like Fu is a quality scorer and will make the most of chances Fu leaves him, as well as having little fear against the top players from the evidence we have so far.
Judd Trump could put a nail in the coffin of Dominic Dale who needs victories to get into the top 64 on the end-of-season ranking list. Trump is making things look easy at the moment and has an excellent record against Dale, who played quite a lot in the period around 2012 and 2013 just after Trump really broke through into the big time. Dale is already threatening to retire, presumably in the event that he does drop off tour and that may take the pressure off of him for the rest of the season and make him less anxious about results. Nonetheless it would be a pretty big upset if he defeated former UK champion and recent Northern Ireland Open champion Trump who I still believe will make the semi-finals of this tournament at the very least, especially now Ryan Day has been knocked out of his section too.
Joe Perry and Michael Holt's match will be one of the picks of the matches that will be played on an outside table over the weekend at the Barbican. Holt had some good results in Northern Ireland to beat Mark King and Stephen Maguire and was an easy 6-1 winner in round one against Chen Zifan. Perry meanwhile was sublime against John Astley, almost strolling round the table like it was a practice session and making a high break of 143 in that whitewash win. Perry was a quarter-finalist here 12 months ago and was in the sort of form on Wednesday that could take him far again this week in York but this is a really tough draw for both players.
Another of the top 16 players who will be vulnerable in round two is Luca Brecel who takes on Liam Highfield. Brecel was really under it in round one as he fell 3-0 behind and against a better player he would have lost that match to continue his poor 2018. Highfield is certainly a player that is good enough to take him out if he gets the opportunity. He was just a red down the cushion from beating Shaun Murphy at this stage last year, and Murphy went on to reach the final. I was impressed with Highfield late on in his victory against Robin Hull which I live blogged on Wednesday morning. His scoring will see him take advantage of Brecel's misses much more than what Fan did on Thursday morning. Brecel will need to be at or very close to his best to get through this one I feel.
John Higgins faces Alan McManus in an all-Scottish battle after just scraping into the last 64. Higgins was well clear of Dechawat Poomjaeng before somehow ending up in a decider and it was just another sign that Higgins is not enjoying his snooker too much since the world final defeat of May. McManus has had success against Higgins before, notably in 2016 when he came from behind to beat Higgins in their Crucible quarter-final which was a stunning result at the time. McManus himself needs wins to ensure his place on tour for next season and his 6-1 win over Alexander Ursenbacher on Wednesday afternoon was a big one given that added pressure. McManus is more than capable of pulling off the upset if Higgins is not on top of his game again here.
Hero of the hour James Cahill will continue his UK Championship against Akani Songsermsawad. Cahill will be flying after beating Selby but may struggle to get up for this one which is likely to be out in the Sports Hall. The style of play that Akani brings does not suit many players either and you would certainly put Cahill in that category, particularly if he starts slowing his own pace of play down and get sucked into a battle. Akani made the last 16 here last year before narrowly losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan and he could become a UK Championship specialist if he takes the opportunity in front of him. The exits of Michael White and Ricky Walden mean the winner of this match will face the winner out of Jak Jones and Joe Swail, making Akani the favourite to reach the last 16 out of the four. If Cahill can bring his best though then he does have every chance of pulling off another big win.
David Gilbert against Peter Ebdon should be another really good match up. Both were quarter-finalists recently at the Northern Ireland Open and have both reached ranking event finals this season, Ebdon in Furth at the Paul Hunter Classic and Gilbert at the World Open. Gilbert finished well against Ashley Carty to win the last three and secure a 6-3 win while Ebdon won comfortably in the back room on Thursday afternoon against Chris Totten and looked in good form in patches there, though the match did go a bit scrappy at times. On overall form you would give Gilbert the edge and if he scores well then Ebdon may struggle to keep up with him as he is very hit and miss in the break building department now, in the twilight of his career.
Barry Hawkins will hope that he can keep his poor UK Championship form at bay when he faces Ian Burns. Hawkins lost in the last 64 in each of 2014, 2015 and 2016 before then being whitewashed in the last 32 last year so he hardly seems to be comfortable in this tournament at the Barbican which is unusual for a player of his high quality. Burns can do damage as well, just ask Neil Robertson about their match in the Welsh Open earlier on in the year and he will tell you what a threat Burns can be on his day. Hawkins was a 6-0 winner in round one though and had a good start to the season, before some recent early exits which could have just damaged his confidence slightly coming to an event that he has lacked success in and he will be fully aware of that.
Neil Robertson is in for a cracking game against Thailand's Thepchiaya Un-Nooh. Robertson is in good form of late beating Mark Selby twice in the last three events and getting to the final of the International Championship and he is certainly a contender for this title, which he has already won twice in his career. Thepchaiya is in good form too at the moment, he reached the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open and had a maximum at the English Open, as well as looking in really strong scoring form against Jimmy White on Wednesday evening. If he scores as heavily as he has been then Robertson won't be able to afford to leave him too many easy chances, making his safety play and long potting really important, especially considering the quality of Un-Nooh's long potting against White on Wednesday. Robertson could be another player under threat of an early exit if he is even slightly off his best in this one.
Graeme Dott and Matthew Stevens should be a really good battle between two quality players. Dott has had a pretty quiet season but was a 6-2 winner in round one against Oliver Lines while Matthew Stevens has been in decent form of late and came through a tough match against Ross Muir 6-4. If this match is in the back room it will not necessarily favour Dott who famously made a point in his autobiography about the disgust that he has not been on the TV table as much as he feels he should have been after winning the World Championship. Stevens looked like his old self in the recent run he had to the semi-finals of the International Championship and he reached the last 16 here a couple of years ago which was one of the highlights as he fell down the rankings. This shapes up to be a really close tie but on recent form you would probably give Stevens the slightest of edges.
Finally, Mark Williams will need to be on the ball against Daniel Wells in their second round tie. Wells will be delighted just to be here after the fortune he had against Zhao Xintong but he is not to be underestimated. In the first half of that match he scored excellently to take a 4-1 lead and was the better player on the night in my view, despite the narrow victory margin. Williams has not been in the best of form in the last few tournaments despite starting the season with another title at the World Open to add to his World title win in May. If he is just off here and Wells is able to handle the occasion, which he should be able to having beaten top players in the past on the TV table, then the outsider of the two in this all-Welsh clash could cause another big UK Championship upset.
The last 64 matches will be played over afternoon and evening sessions on both Saturday and Sunday as the field is narrowed down to the final 32 and the money doubles up from the guarantee of £5,000 for reaching round two, to £10,000 for making round three.
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