Shaun Murphy appeared to still be suffering from a UK Championship hangover as he crashed out of the Scottish Open at the first hurdle.
The world number six, who suffered a 10-5 defeat to Ronnie O’Sullivan in Sunday’s prestigious final in York, looked a little off the pace and fell to a 4-3 loss to Daniel Wells.
Murphy gave it everything to land his second UK Championship title last week and after falling short appeared to find it difficult to raise his game so soon after here.
But for Wells – ranked number 63 in the world – this is a big result and he deserves full credit for taking advantage. The Welshman is no stranger to taking scalps of the big names having also beaten Murphy at the World Open making it a total of two wins from their three meetings already this season.
This is however Daniel’s first ever win on television and symbolises a big breakthrough moment having been established for a while now as tough competitor on the snooker circuit.
The Rocket wasn’t rusty
The recently crowned UK champion O’Sullivan certainly wasn’t slow off the mark in Glasgow and picked up exactly where he left off on Sunday.
He continued his rich vein of form with a storming 4-1 win over Michael Georgiou finishing with a break of 136 to book his place in the last 64 and keep his hopes of back-to-back titles alive.
Maximum impact
Cao Yupeng became the third Chinese player in the history of the game to make a maximum break.
He hit an impressive 147 in his 4-0 demolition of Andrew Higginson following in the footsteps of compatriot Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo.
For a nation of players who seem to be thriving with the conditions of healthy competition, this is notable success for Cao who is having his best ever season as professional.
