John Higgins unexpectedly exited the World Open, the multiple world champion was defeated by Jackson Page (ranked 52 in the world) 5-3 in the first round of the snooker tournament in Yushan, China.

John Higgins defeated Jackson Page in the first round of the World Open

A four-time Crucible World Champion (1998, 2007, 2009 and 2011), Higgins won the first frame against Page, but it was four straight games for the Welshman to beat the Scot.

Higgins (48 years old) closed the gap (3-4) but was unable to equalize and was eliminated by Page (22 years old), who has several titles at junior level (European U18 Champion and U21 and U18 World Champion).

Jackson will face Wu Yize (41st place), who won the Chinese match against Yuelong Zhou (20th place).

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Ronnie O’Sullivan in the second round of the World Open after a tough match against Michael White

Also on Tuesday, Ronnie O’Sullivan (the leader of the world ranking) emotionally beat Michael White (62nd place) with a score of 5-3.

The Rocket led 3-1 (he managed to make breaks of 129 and 106 points), but the Welshman tied the score at 3 and was close to taking the match into a deciding frame (he had 53-34 in the eighth frame, but Ronnie back).

O’Sullivan will face Haotian Liu (ranked 28) in the second round after the Chinese defeated Ireland’s Aaron Hill (ranked 64) in dramatic fashion 5-4.

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World Open, second round

Judd Trump (2) – Zhenyi Fan (54)

Dominic Dale (43) – David Lilley (70)

Ashley Hugill (74) – Kyren Wilson (11)

Ricky Walden (35) – Ben Woollaston (60)

Mark Selby (5) – Long Zehuan (101)

Jackson Paige (52) – Wu Yzeh (41)

Matthew Stevens (47) – Elliot Slessor (42)

He Guoqiang (76) – Daniel Wells (80)

Ronnie O’Sullivan (1) – Haotian Liu (28)

Robert Milkins (14) – Hossein Wafai (21)

Yupeng Cao (38) – Ding Junhui (9)

Joe Perry (48) – Shaun Murphy (6)

Neil Robertson (15) – Sijun Yuan (37)

Ali Carter (8) – Chris Wakelin (22)

Robbie Williams (46) – Barry Hawkins (18)

Stephen Maguire (31) – Luca Bresel (4).

World Open 2024 will be held from March 18 to 24 in Yushan Sport Center (China). The tournament has a total prize pool of £815,000 and the reigning champion is Judd Trump (2019).

A semi-final appearance is rewarded with £32,500, with the finalist receiving £73,000 and the grand champion £170,000.