GLOBAL SNOOKER NEWS

Mark Williams and John Higgins, the finalists in last year's LG Cup, both crashed out in the first round of the Grand Prix in Preston today.

Defeat for Higgins came despite his superb 147 in the third frame against Ricky Walden.

Undeterred by being pegged back at 2-2 and 3-3, former WPBSA Young Player of Distinction and IBSF World Under 21 Champion in 2001, Walden rattled off breaks of 72 and 83 to wrap up a memorable victory.

And he'll face another former YPD Stephen Maguire, in the next round. Maguire came through to beat Shaun Murphy 5-2, who he beat to lift the IBSF World title in 2000.

But the match was marred by an incident before a ball had been struck. Maguire got down to break off in frame one, only to discover he'd left his chalk behind. He sought and gained the permission of referee Johan Ooman to fetch his chalk, but was apprehended by WSA Tournament Director Mike Ganley, who applied the rule that if a player is not ready to play at the allotted time, then he forfeits the frame.

His opponent, Murphy, was involved in a similar incident last season, when his opponent was docked a frame for not being at the table in time.

The incident served only to fire Maguire up and he smacked in breaks of 57 and 52 to take a 3-1 interval lead. Murphy's excellent run of 96 kept him in touch at 3-2, but Maguire wrapped up the next two frames.

It was also a memorable day for Michael Judge, who claimed later, that his 5-2 win over an out-of-sorts Mark Williams, was the best of his career.

Williams only just won the first frame, despite an opening 57 and he lost the next two. But the Welshman found his range in frame four with a run of 72 to go into the interval all square.  He then contrived to squander a 60 point lead in the fifth and Judge added the sixth without Williams scoring and the Welshman was staring defeat in the face.

And it came one frame later as Judge held his nerve to win on the colours.

Mark King was another seed to bite the dust, crashing to a shock 5-0 defeat by Joe Jogia, who recently boosted his confidence by winning the Pontin's Autumn Plate tournament.

Chris Small also perished, edged out 5-4 after a titanic struggle against Mark Selby who recoverd from 3-1 behind. And Barry Pinches also lost a decider, against Londoner Barry Hawkins.

Allister Carter had an equally hard fight, before prevailing 5-4 over Telford's Adrian Gunnell, with a break of 57 in the decider.

Paul Hunter fired in two centuries in an in-and-out performance against a rejuvenated Darren Morgan. The Welshman showed glimpses of his vintage best as he stroked in a break of 70 in the second frame and then won back to back frames to level at 3-3.

Marcus Campbell opened with breaks of 73 and 51 against Quinten Hann and the pair swapped frames until the score reached 3-3. Both player spurned chances as the tension built, but Campbell held on to scramble the next two frames.

Had they won Hann would have been due to play his arch rival Mark Williams, whom he has challenged to a £50,000 winner take all boxing bout, which Williams has refused.  It is unlikely that Campbell and Michael Judge will seek to settle their second round match in the boxing ring!

With the defeats of Higgins, Williams and Stevens, Stephen Hendry is the only Top 8 seed left in the bottom half of the draw. In all nine of the top 32 seeds perished. Michael Holt, Barry Pinches and Gerard Greene all lost in the bottom half of the draw, which is now very open, while Chris Small, Mark King and John Parrott failed to reached their seeded position in the top half.

RESOURCES

2004 GRAND PRIX

INFORMATION

PHOTOS

TOTESPORT

RESULTS

Frame Scores:

Marcus Campbell 5-3 Quinten Hann

73(73)-4, 52(51)-63, 80-0, 2-57, 75-41, 53-68, 58-26, 68-48

Mark Selby 5-4 Chris Small

73-0, 0-83(76), 21-110(71), 59-60, 85(66)-13, 52(52)-65, 65-57, 102-0, 63-32

Joe Jogia 5-0 Mark King

52-28, 83(51)-29, 73-30, 73-64(64), 75(66)-0

Paul Hunter 5-3 Darren Morgan

54-32, 15-71(70), 78-11, 108(108)-0, 29-64, 6-85, 68-47, 127(127)-0

Allister Carter 5-4 Adrian Gunnell

43-91, 44-77, 63-9, 120(73), 63-55(54), 1-79(61), 70-1, 41-74, 72(57)-1

Robert Milkins 5-2 Rory McLeod

91-21, 37-57, 70(63)-45, 73(61)-20, 45-58, 74-33, 64-1

Ricky Walden 5-3 John Higgins

67-45, 70-34, 0-155(147), 1-73(61), 66-49, 4-68, 87(72)-1, 87(83)-0

Stephen Maguire 5-2 Shaun Murphy

0-1, 79(57)-42, 75(52)-2, 93-43, 0-96(96), 61-43, 65-55

Barry Hawkins 5-4 Barry Pinches

16-73(67), 79(74)-36, 25-59, 5-101(93), 72-34, 68-54(54), 67-57, 39-86, 78-12

Michael Judge 5-2 Mark Williams

71-80(57), 69-30, 71-8, 38-96(72), 70-64, 72-0, 63-50