The 17 wildcards registered to compete included 14-year-old Ziyad Al Qabbani however just one, Egypt’s Mohamed Elkhayat, progressed from the primary spherical beating Thailand’s 2023 ladies’s world champion Baipat Siripaporn 4-3 of their best-of-seven encounter.
The 1997 world champion Ken Doherty went out within the first spherical, whereas six-time finalist Jimmy White progressed by his first two matches earlier than shedding 4-2 to China’s Si Jiahui.
Joe O’Connor, who knocked Mark Selby, the four-time world champion, out of the World Championship earlier this 12 months, reeled off three frames in a row to beat Louis Heathcote 4-3 within the third spherical however Robert Milkins fell to a shock 4-3 defeat to Malaysia’s Rory Thor and Scotland’s Anthony McGill misplaced 4-1 to England’s Ashley Carty.
Neil Robertson, a 23-time rating occasion winner, beat Paul Deaville 4-1, whereas Stephen Maguire brushed apart Ben Mertens 4-0 and Dave Gilbert defeated Alfie Burden by the identical rating as all of them progressed to spherical 4.
