After Michael Holt shocked the snooker world with his victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan on the opening evening, the fans taking their seats for Wednesday's action would not have been expecting to witness just as dramatic action on the second day. Surely not?
The champion eases through to the next round
Just as Wednesday was ticking over to Thursday and many of the Welsh public were sound asleep, world number nine Mark Allen was completing a 4-2 victory over David Grace, who still has just one victory to his name this year. The highlight for Allen was a 74 break in the final frame.
World number two Stuart Bingham has found 2016 tough since reaching the semi-finals of The Masters, failing to make it past the second round of four competitions. Yet, Bingham cruised past David Gilbert with a 4-1 victory after going a frame behind.
Liang Wenbo followed in the footsteps of Bingham with a win by the same scoreline over Graeme Dott. The man from China impressed with a break of 99 and 105, whilst only allowing Dott to score one point in the four frames that went to Wenbo.
The 4-1 scoreline was matched again in arguably the tie of the round, as reigning champion Judd Trump saw off Mark Williams with surprising ease. The highlight came in the final frame as Trump put together a 122 break.
Selby stunned by Ford in an evening of surprises
If the early matches followed the form book, the late matches certainly did not. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh raced three frames clear of Marco Fu, before seeing off a comeback by the world number 15 to upset the odds and progress into the next round.
Many people would have predicted young Belgian star Luca Brecel to see off Ali Carter, but the Englishman was in resilient form to defeat the man ranked six places above him, 4-1. Carter put together a 103 break in the final frame of another surprise result.
Yet, the surprise of the day came when 48th ranked Tom Ford defeated world number one Mark Selby 4-2. This was arguably a bigger shock than Holt beating O'Sullivan, looking at the world rankings. A 112 break in the third gave Ford the confidence to assert his authority and defeat the man who won the Championship just last week.