Murphy, Bingham And Hawkins Knocked Out
Top-16 stars Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins all suffered defeat in the qualifying round of the Kaspersky Riga Masters.
Zhang Anda
Murphy had a disappointing 2018/19 season by his high standards and the current campaign started in a similar vein as he lost 4-3 to Zhang Anda.
From 2-0 down, 2005 World Champion Murphy knocked in breaks of 80, 71 and 88 to lead 3-2. But he scored just one point in the last two frames as China’s Zhang took them with runs of 49 and 62.
Bingham, the 2015 Crucible king, went down 4-1 against China’s Li Hang. From 1-1, Li took the last three frames with a top break of 49.
Hawkins also misses out on the trip to Latvia as he lost 4-1 to Q School graduate Jamie O’Neill. Runs of 101, 73 and 120 helped give O’Neill one of his best career wins.
World number eight Kyren Wilson eased to a 4-1 win over Fergal O’Brien, firing breaks of 63, 83, 54 and 56.
Poland’s Kacper Filipiak came from 3-1 down to beat Zhao Xintong 4-3 with a top break of 61. That means there will be two Poles in the last 64, as Filipiak joins Adam Stefanow.