Another Bad Day For Ryan
Ryan Day’s poor run of form continued in China as the number 12 crashed out against Wigan’s Andrew Higginson.
Higginson got off to a bright start winning the first frame with a break of 59. The world number 32 increased his lead to 3-0 before the Welshman pegged one back before the interval with a run of 62.
After the interval, Day looked more like the player who reached the final here in 2007.
He made breaks of 54 and 80 to level the scores at three apiece.
When confidence is low in professional sport, getting a result can become virtually impossible.
An early break of 45 helped Higginson regain the lead and after Day missed a chance in the balls early in frame eight, he was able to get across the winning line.
The former Welsh Open finalist will now face Scotland’s Jamie Burnett for a place in the last eight after The Scot received a bye in his scheduled match with Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Elsewhere, Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens gave Welsh fans something to smile about.
Williams recovered from 3-1 down to beat Ricky Walden, while Stevens survived a scare, beating last years’ runner-up, Liang Wenbo 5-3 after leading four-frames-to-nil.
Graeme Dott won the battle of former world champions, beating Ireland’s Ken Doherty 5-4.
Scotland made it three out of three in round two as Stephen Maguire overcame Judd Trump 5-3 despite a brace of centuries from the youngster.
World six-red champion, Mark Davis produced a century of his own in the final frame shoot-out against Hong Kong’s Marco Fu. He will now play Maguire for a place in the quarter-finals.
