Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams crashed out of the Shanghai Masters as the first round came to a conclusion on Wednesday.
Robertson, somewhat unusually for him, complained about the conditions as he was downed by Ryan Day in a scrappy affair 5-2.
The Australian had been in good form so far this season following a tournament victory at the Riga Masters and a semi-final appearance in the World Open.
However, in a match of no breaks above 50, Day took full advantage of his opponent’s lacklustre display to move into the last 16.
The Welshman will be hoping to capitalise fully on his victory, especially after countryman Williams crashed out to the unheralded Chinese Mei Xiwen.
The two-time world champion appeared to be in control when he won the opening two frames but Mei fought back strongly by winning the next four and, even though Williams pulled it back again, the 33 year-old knocked in a classy 117 to seal a famous win.
Meanwhile, new father Shaun Murphy will be returning home to change the nappies sooner than hoped after coming well short against maximum man Stephen Maguire.
Murphy was never really in the tie as Maguire raced away to his second successive 5-0 drubbing this week – compiling runs of 121, 75, 65 and 62 to add to his hat-trick of tons on Tuesday.
Judd Trump wasn’t quite as impressive, boasting a high break of 88, but also sailed through via a whitewash win against Ben Woollaston.
In fact, most of the encounters on the third day of action in China were quite one-sided.
Barry Hawkins and Stuart Bingham also enjoyed 5-0 results over Robert Milkins and Jamie Jones respectively.
Bingham finished his rout with consecutive century breaks of 112 and 124 to set up a second round clash with fellow Englishman David Gilbert.
World Open champion Ali Carter also ended with a ton as he hammered Kurt Maflin 5-1.
The only exciting encounter of the day involved Joe Perry and Stuart Carrington, and it was certainly a matter of saving the best to the last.
It looked odds on that Perry, runner-up in Yushan in July, was going to emerge victorious when he established a 4-2 advantage but Carrington replied with a stunning surge of scoring to finish.
Breaks of 78, 85 and 100 curtailed Perry of any opportunity as Carrington, a much-improved player on the tour over the last year or so, reached the last 16 of a ranking event of the first time in his career.
All eight second round ties will take place on Thursday with the meeting of home favourite Ding Junhui and Mark Allen standing out as the one not to miss.
