Mark Selby crashed out of the Wuhan Open with a 5-4 defeat to Long Zehuang in the qualifiers on Sunday in Leicester.
The four-time world champion led 4-1 after compiling a brace of centuries – two big contributions of 135 and 130.
But his Chinese opponent fought back in terrific fashion at the Mattioli Arena, winning the last four frames on the spin.
Long compiled breaks of 50, 67, 54, and 67 in successive frames to clinch a deciding-frame victory at the end.
It was a busy day as the preliminary phase for the Wuhan Open, returning as a ranking event on the calendar for a second season, got under way.
Most of the other marquee names advanced unscathed to the venue stages of the competition in October.
Last week’s Shanghai Masters finalist Shaun Murphy guaranteed his return trip to China with a comfortable 5-1 defeat of Michael Holt.
John Higgins, Barry Hawkins, Si Jiahui, Robert Milkins, and Gary Wilson each advanced as well – albeit the latter needed all nine frames to pip Alexander Ursenbacher in a tight decider.
There were a few other upsets, notably a terrific 5-4 victory for Cheung Ka Wai over Stephen Maguire.
Hong Kong’s Cheung is competing in his first season as a professional and already looks like a player who can mix it with the elite.
The 25 year-old also compiled three century breaks in his narrow defeat to Ryan Day during last week’s Xi’an Grand Prix qualifiers.
Ricky Walden suffered a surprise exit as well, losing 5-4 to Mostafa Dorgham who recorded only his third ever triumph as a pro.
Among the others to make it through the Wuhan Open qualifiers was Jimmy White.
The 10-time ranking event winner struggled badly for form during the most recent campaign, but he has already started this term in more confident fashion.
White took Si Jiahui to a deciding frame last week but managed to do even better here, eclipsing Dominic Dale with a 5-3 scoreline.
Anthony McGill, Chris Wakelin, Aaron Hill, and Sanderson Lam qualified, while Pakistan’s Haris Tahir won his first match as a professional by beating Jamie Jones.
Chinese trio Fan Zhengyi, Xu Si, and He Guoqiang all additionally won to guarantee their returns to the homeland.
On Monday, the Wuhan Open qualifiers continue with Luca Brecel, Ali Carter, and Hossein Vafaei among those scheduled to play.
2024 Wuhan Open qualifying draw and schedule
Round of 128 (bo9)
Sunday, July 28
Sanderson Lam 5-3 Huang Jiahao
Fan Zhengyi 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
He Guoqiang 5-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Stephen Maguire 4-5 Cheung Ka Wai
Xu Si 5-1 Ian Burns
Si Jiahui 5-3 Gong Chenzhi
Chris Wakelin 5-1 Ma Hailong
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Jiang Jun
Gary Wilson 5-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony McGill 5-3 Simon Blackwell
Aaron Hill 5-2 Ashley Carty
Robert Milkins 5-1 Farakh Ajaib
Jamie Clarke 5-4 Alfie Burden
Ricky Walden 4-5 Mostafa Dorgham
Joshua Thomand 0-5 Allan Taylor
Robbie Williams 5-4 Kreishh Gurbaxani
John Higgins 5-1 Ben Mertens
Jamie Jones 3-5 Haris Tahir
Mark Selby 4-5 Long Zehuang
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Michael Holt
Dominic Dale 3-5 Jimmy White
Monday, July 29
10am UTC+1
Stuart Bingham vs Xing Zihao
Pang Junxu vs Révész Bulscú
Ali Carter vs Wang Yuchen
Wu Yize vs Rory Thor
David Grace vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Iulian Boiko vs Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Tian Pengfei vs Andrew Higginson
2:30pm UTC+1
Hossein Vafaei vs Ahmed Elsayed
Ryan Day vs Liu Hongyu
Scott Donaldson vs Zak Surety
Graeme Dott vs Julien Leclercq
Tom Ford vs Sunny Akani
Matthew Selt vs Liam Pullen
Joe Perry vs Stuart Carrington
7pm UTC+1
Anthony Hamilton vs Reanne Evans
Elliot Slessor vs Artiemijs Zizins
Luca Brecel vs Duane Jones
Ben Woollaston vs Oliver Lines
David Lilley vs Mohamed Shehab
Noppon Saengkham vs Daniel Wells
Joe O’Connor vs Hammad Miah
Tuesday, July 30
10am UTC+1
Mark Allen vs Bai Yulu
Jackson Page vs Lei Peifan
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Louis Heathcote
Dylan Emery vs Kok Leong Lim
Lyu Haotian vs Andrew Pagett
Xiao Guodong vs Haydon Pinhey
Zhou Yuelong vs Marco Fu
2:30pm UTC+1
Jimmy Robertson vs Amir Sarkhosh
Neil Robertson vs Ken Doherty
Jack Lisowski vs Liam Graham
Jak Jones vs Ross Muir
Mark Davis vs Chris Totten
Matthew Stevens vs Stan Moody
Heldover Matches
Schedule TBC
Judd Trump vs Antoni Kowalski
Yuan Sijun vs Wildcard
Ding Junhui vs Robbie McGuigan
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Mitchell Mann
Zhang Anda vs Dean Young
Jordan Brown vs Wildcard
Martin O’Donnell vs Wildcard
David Gilbert vs Wildcard
Kyren Wilson vs Liam Davies
Featured photo credit: WST
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Publish date : 2024-07-29 02:27:16
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