International Championship - Day 2

Cao Yupeng caused an upset by knocking out recenty in-form
John Higgins 6-3. Image: BBC Sport

There was a huge upset in the afternoon session as John Higgins was defeated 6-3 by Cao Yupeng. Everything was going swimmingly for Higgins who took the first two frames however an incredible run from the world number 66 saw him win five on the bounce to lead 5-2. The Wizard of Wishaw, who has shown good form of late, hoped to spark a comeback by winning frame eight, which saw him miss out on a 147 after potting 10 reds and 10 blacks but Cao took advantage of an outrageous fluke in frame nine to ensure progress to the last 16.

In the pick of the first round ties, Mark Selby faced Ali Carter who had to qualify for the event, partly due to losing out on ranking points when he was forced to pull out of several events last season due to his crones disease. The match began with a predictable tensity to it, with Carter snatching the first frame. The game continued in tight fashion, with the scores locked at 2-2 at the interval. However, after the interval, Selby looked the stronger and won four out of five frames to secure a place in the last 16.

Dominic Dale caused a surprise when he defeated world number 11 Graeme Dott in the afternoon session. The match started on close terms with the interval score at 2-2 but the Spaceman won the four frames he required to book a place with Lu Haotian in the second round. Meanwhile, Matthew Stevens needed a final frame decider to overcome 15-year-old wildcard entry Zhao Xintong who yesterday defeated Ken Doherty. Stevens seemed to be cruising to victory at 4-1 up but Zhao won four on the bounce to level the scores at 4-4. The Welshman went 5-4 up but Zhao again drew level to force a final frame which Stevens won with a break of 44. Barry Pinches tasted a painful defeat in the final wildcard round match earlier in the day after he was defeated 6-5 by Lu Ning in a match that lasted over five hours.