Home favourite Mark Williams suffered a 4-2 reverse against Stephen Maguire in the last 32 of the BetVictor Welsh Open, while Neil Robertson was also knocked out on an afternoon of surprise results in Llandudno.
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Defeat for Robertson, 4-3 against Tom Ford, blows open the race to win the £150,000 BetVictor Bonus, as Kyren Wilson can now overtake him by reaching the quarter-finals, while Chris Wakelin, Pang Junxu and Luca Brecel are also in the hunt.
World number five Williams, the last Welsh winner of this title back in 1999, made three centuries in his opening match this week against Florian Nuessle, but couldn't reproduce that form today. Six-time ranking event winner Maguire has slipped to 29th in the world but enjoyed one of his best wins in recent seasons to set up a last 16 meeting with Sanderson Lam. A break of 54 in the sixth frame, his highest of the match, helped the Glaswegian to the winning line and kept alive his hopes of qualifying for next month's World Grand Prix as he must at least reach the semi-finals.
"The fifth frame was the big moment because Mark had come back to 2-2 and looked like going 3-2 up, but he missed a bad blue and I managed to clear up," said Maguire, who won this event in 2013. "With the chances I had I could have won it 4-0 or 4-1. I am going to watch the match back tonight, which I don't usually like doing but I am not cueing well so I need to see if I can fix it before tomorrow. It's a good result for me today because I don't get many wins like that these days."
Robertson came from 3-0 down to 3-3, only for Ford to finish superbly with a break of 131 in the deciding frame to earn a tie with Jackson Page. "I came here with very low expectations because I have been feeling unwell," said Ford, who won his first ranking title at the 9Club Shoot Out in December. "When Neil got back to 3-3 he was cueing well and I was feeling worse, but fortunately in the last frame I got a chance and made a good break."
Page reached the last 16 of this event for the first time in his career with a 4-2 win over Ishpreet Singh Chadha. Welshman Page first played in the tournament as a 15-year-old in 2017 and won two matches to reach the last 32.
"That run in 2017 was my first time on TV and those memories will live forever," said Page today. "It's a great feeling to reach the last 16 of my home tournament, especially as the crowds here are brilliant even in the morning sessions. I have had a good season so far and I hope to keep improving."
Yuan Sijun, a semi-finalist at the recent Machineseeker German Masters, kept his momentum going with a 4-3 win over Mark Allen. A tense 55-minute deciding frame came down to the colours and China's Yuan enjoyed a huge slice of good fortune when, leading 66-54, he missed the final yellow to a baulk corner but it flew into a centre pocket. He added green and brown which proved enough.
John Higgins, who has won a record five Welsh Open titles, is yet to concede a frame in this event as he followed up a 4-0 first round victory over Graeme Dott with another whitewash against Robert Milkins. Breaks of 65, 83, 72 and 68 helped Higgins set up a match with Yuan Sijun or Mark Allen.
Wu Yize, runner-up at the BetVictor English Open and BetVictor Scottish Open, went down 4-2 against Sanderson Lam. That ends Wu's chances of the BetVictor Bonus as he needed to reach the final.
Matthew Selt edged out Jamie Clarke 4-3, which could be enough to secure his place in the World Grand Prix. Welshmen Jamie Jones and Matthew Stevens reached the last 16, beating Robbie Williams 4-2 and David Gilbert 4-3 respectively.