Snooker is continuing a trend of unpredictable results as a host of familiar names were sent crashing out of the competition in the opening days of the Shanghai Masters.
Maguire in fine form
Undoubtedly the star of the show so far has been Scotland's Stephen Maguire. He was in fine form during the Wild Card round when he whitewashed Chinese amateur Yi Chen Xu, posting a third career maximum 147 break on his way to a comfortable victory. He then built on that momentum with another 5-0 victory in Round One over Shaun Murphy, who then stated "anyone who faces Stephen later in the competition will have a tough task to progress".
Neil Robertson had been shaping a strong 2016/17 season but was stunned by Ryan Day in a 5-2 defeat. The Welshman ground out victory after seven frames where neither player managed to record a half century break. Robertson has a major ranking tournament victory to his name already this season, as does Anthony McGill, who was also defeated in the opening round in another low scoring affair against Mark Allen.
Experience counted for nothing when both Joe Perry and Mark Williams were blown out of the competition within an hour of each other. The former looked strong with a 4-2 lead over Stuart Carrington, only to score seven points in the final three frames as Carrington formed a series of excellent breaks to progress against his higher ranked opponent. China's Mei Xiwen continues as the lowest ranked opponent at 112 as he saw off Williams with an excellent 5-3 victory.
The champion fails to defend his title
Yet even relative inexperience was not the foundation for success as young reigning champion Kyren Wilson was prevented from even going close to defending his crown, with Michael Holt strolling past him with a 5-2 success. Ricky Walden and Marco Fu went close to progressing but both lost 5-4 to slight underdogs Michael White and David Gilbert.
However, Ronnie O'Sullivan was one big name who just about managed to avoid an upset with victory in a final frame decider against Liang Wenbo. Ding Junhui also recorded the same result against Scott Donaldson, whilst John Higgins shuffled past Matthew Selt with two frames to spare.
Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins make up the rest of the final sixteen after 5-0 victories against their respective opponents.