Judd Trump made it two defeats and zero wins so far this season after a disappointing display sent him crashing out of the 2011 Australian Open to Mark Davis.
In a 5-3 defeat, the World Championship finalist looked thoroughly out of sorts and lacking match sharpness as world number 19 Davis took advantage of his opponent’s poor play.
China Open champion Trump had already lost his opening match of the campaign at the opening PTC event last month and appeared to be out of practice during his encounter in Bendigo.
It has been apparent that the 21 year-old has been enjoying himself since his new-found rise to stardom but he will have to put the hours in on the practice table if he wants to continue his successful streak – such is the high level of competitiveness that is on the Main Tour at the moment.
Many pundits draw comparisons in the Bristol potter’s style of play with that of Jimmy White, who warned Trump in May not to go down the same party-filled road that he enjoyed during his own youth.
Nevertheless, it is a fantastic result for Davis who has produced a more consistent spell in his career since he claimed the 2009 6-red World Championship in Killarney.
Elsewhere on day one, Stephen Hendry beat PTC Grand Finalist Martin Gould 5-3 – with a trademark century break of 120 in frame seven the pinnacle of his performance.
The Scot recently dropped out of the Top 16 in the provisional rankings for the first time in his illustrious career but has set himself the target of rejoining the world’s top 8 by the end of the season.
That could be a step too far for the veteran Scotsman but his victory over Gould will certainly be a confidence boost to the seven-time world champion as he prepares to face either countryman John Higgins or Matthew Selt in the last 16.
Rory McLeod also enjoyed a 5-3 triumph in his first round encounter with former world and UK champion Peter Ebdon.
The 40 year-old, who came into some controversy during the qualifying process for Australia when he refused to shake a female referee’s hand because of his Muslim beliefs, lost the opening three frames but bounced back to grind out an impressive win.
Shaun Murphy and Tom Ford made it a quintet of 5-3 scorelines with their successful outings over Andrew Higginson and Jamie Cope respectively while lowest ranked qualifier David Gilbert eased to a 5-1 win against Australian wildcard James Mifsud.
Englishman Gilbert, who came through four rounds of qualifying to book his place Down Under, is in the last 16 of a ranking event for only the second time in his career.
