Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and John Higgins beaten on day of shocks at Wuhan Open

10/10/2023 15:45

The first edition of the Wuhan Open is proving to be extremely unpredictable after a string of upsets on thesecond day of the Chinese event.

Throughout the day the favourites fell, with Mark Selby the first to go in the morning session, followed by Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and John Higgins.

Selby was edged out 5-4 by Xu Si, who brilliantly knocked in a break of 125 to win the match, while Ding was dismissed 5-0 thanks to a sublime performance from Yuan Sijun which included breaks of 120, 102 and 100.

Higgins was on the wrong end of a surprisngly one-sided result as well, beaten 5-1 by Martin O’Donnell, a man the four-time world champion as recently as Friday in the English Open at Brentwood.

Meanwhile Robertson’s poor early-season form continued as he was downed 5-3 by Liam Highfield, despite showing a flash of his brilliant best with a break of 140 along the way.

The Thunder from Down Under has won just three matches in ranking events so far this campaign and spoke out about his form struggles on social media, saying he struggling badly with missing friends and family back in Australia, having not returned to his homeland for a lengthy period of time.

‘I don't normally do posts like this but Just want to address my fans who are a bit confused with results,’ Robertson wrote. ‘Everything is fine just missing Australia a bit and have a big trip planned towards the end of the year where I'll miss the last few events. I should have gone last year after my best ever season and mentally paid the price.