Tough Day at the office as Higgins falls

JOHN HIGGINS last night was knocked out of the Dafabet Masters by Ryan Day in a first-round, best-of-11 final-frame decider.

The Wishaw potter had taken the early initiative at Alexandra Palace, with a break of 65 the highlight as he opened up a 3-1 lead. But breaks of 52, 111 and 83 saw Welshman Day claw back control of the tie.

The pair traded the next to scrappy frames before Higgins levelled to force a decider. But Day showed all of his resillience to see out the final frame with a sensational break of 128.

Mark Allen was the first shock casualty after the defending champion crashed out to Luca Brecel in another finalframe decider at Alexandra Palace.

The Northern Irishman’s bid this year was over almost before it had begun as Belgian Brecel racked up four half-century breaks and a superb 140.

The 23-year-old started with a composed break of 75 before Allen hit back with a run of 67, only for Brecel to hit 50 in the next to lead 2-1.

Brecel took the fourth frame to extend his lead to 3-1, but 32-yearold Allen restored parity with breaks of 96 and 136.

But Brecel went one better with a brilliant 140 to move 4-3 ahead before the duo traded the next three with runs of 83, 88 and 99 to force a deciding 11th frame, with Brecel holding his nerve to knock in his fourth half-century to and set up a secondround clash with the winner between Ding Junhui and Jack Lisowski.