Stephen Maguire's defence of his China Open title lasted just one game after he was thumped 5-0 by Dave Harold.
Defending champion whitewashed, Higgins, Carter progress
Stephen Maguire's defence of his China Open title lasted just one game after he was thumped 5-0 by Dave Harold, while John Higgins produced an amazing recovery to come from 4-0 down to beat Anthony Hamilton.
Maguire was looking to defend the title he won 12 months ago, but his defence lasted just two hours and six minutes as he was thumped 5-0 by Harold in the first round in Beijing.
Harold hit a 115 in the opening frame to start with a bang, and Scottish cueman Maguire never recovered from that early blow.
"I started off brilliantly with a 115 got on a kick on the green otherwise it would have been a 140, won a couple of scrappy frames and in the last went for the pink and fluked the black," said Stoke man Harold.
Peter Ebdon will be next up for Harold, as he sealed a 5-3 victory over home hope Tang Jun with a 138 clearance.
Higgins recovery
Higgins look to be following his fellow Scot Maguire out of the tournament as he also trailed 4-0 at the interval after breaks of 47, 66 and 50 from Hamilton.
Five consecutive half-century breaks gave Higgins the next five frames on the spin as he recovered from 4-0 down to win 5-4 for just the second time in his career.
"Very, very happy, at 4-0 it wasn't looking very good," was Higgins' verdict. "Anthony was a semi-finalist at the Welsh Open and is on a good run of form.
Shanghai Masters champion Ricky Walden continued his fine form in the Far East with a top-quality 5-2 victory over Joe Perry.
A break of 140 in the opener was the highlight for Walden as he made it eight wins in China this season after his Shanghai victory.
Earlier, Robert Milkins won a tense deciding frame to dump Joe Swail out of the tournament 5-4 and set up a first-round clash with Stephen Hendry.
Gloucester potter Milkins took out the Welsh Open finalist in a tight encounter, with a tough snooker in the deciding frame handing him the chance for victory.
Carter flying
2008 World Championship finalist Ali Carter made it through to the last 16 with a comprehensive win over Nigel Bond.
World number seven Carter, recorded his fifth consecutive victory over Bond without dropping a frame and will face either Mark Allen or Stuart Pettman in the quarter-finals.
Ryan Day will meet either Mark King or fellow Welshman Mark Williams in the second round after overcoming Jamie Cope, the 2007 finalist, by five frames to two.
Elsewhere, Xiao Guodong sprung a surprise, triumphing in the all-Chinese battle with 2005 champion Ding Junhui 5-3 to set up a potential meeting with world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan, who faces Ireland's Fergal O'Brien on Wednesday.
Australian Neil Robertson was made to work hard against Gerard Greene of Northern Ireland before eventually prevailing in a deciding ninth frame.
The 5-4 win means Robertson will next face either 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy or Cao Xinlong, the Chinese youngster who recieved a bye after John Parrott's withdrawal in the previous round.
