2015 World Grand Prix (Day 2) - The crash of titans

The second day of the current 888.com World Grand Prix revealed its first surprises to the hungry snooker audience from North Wales alongside with all the snooker loopies watching on the telly.

Shaun Murphy and John Higgins crashed out in the first round (please imagine a dramatic sound as you finish this sentence, something you would hear in a thriller film).

Reigning Masters champion, Shaun Murphy took on Peter Ebdon in a pretty weird match that could best be described as this: bits and pieces.

Although it had a very promising start as Murphy won the opening frame with a top break of 69 on the last black, the fluency of the match soon started to deteriorate.

Ebdon used runs of 51, 48 and 39 to move 2-1 up before Murphy responded by taking a very scrappy forth frame with a clearance of just 40 points.

A 57 break was putting the vegan-player in the leading position once again, but Shaun managed to clinch a very, very scrappy affair and force the decider.

A decider that Peter won in just one visit with a brilliant 136 clearance. That new lifestyle of his and those Reiki lessons are paying off, I tell ya!

The second snooker titan to leave the competition is John Higgins who was defeated by fellow country-man Graeme Dott, also known as the "fearless terrier".

John was the first to break the ice and had a very strong start, a break of 80 points being a living proof of that, but Graeme was sure not to delay his response, which came under the form of a 51 break.

Higgins put his nose back in front after winning a scrapper, only that this time the Scottish terrier's reply was stronger. Breaks of 63 and 78 were putting him in the lead for the first time since the beginning of the match, at 3-2.

His opponent forced the decider with a bit of help from a 69 break, but Dotty's mind was made up: he wanted victory and that's what he got with just a top break of 39 for a 4-3 scoreline.

Joe Perry beat Ben Woollaston by a outstanding 4-0 scoreline and hit a great 139 break in the process (this was at that particular time the highest of the competition), only to see his dream vanished (there's a prize money of £5,000 for the highest break of the competition) when during the evening session, Judd Trump whitewashed Dominic Dale and hit a marvellous 140 break.

Judd's performance was actually quite spectacular and his long potting game has clearly improved besides the 140 clearance, the Bristol-man hitting breaks of 53, 58, 44 and 38 to secure himself a place in the Last 16 where he'll meet none other than ... Joe Perry. The irony! The irony!

A very dramatic Welsh-clash took place between Mark Williams (now introduced to the audience like the "World's Seniors champion" outrageous!) and Ryan Day.

Day had a very solid start despite letting his opponent to take the opener, for he fought back and was the first to take a real glance at a place in the Last 16.

Breaks of 58 and 52 were putting Ryan at 3-1 up, when Williams commenced his comeback and forced the decider.

The drama started when the lads were left on a draw, 60-60, with only the pink and the black waiting to be potted.

The safety battle lasted for a few minutes when all of the sudden Williams got lucky and fluked the pink and then potted the black to win the match, 4-3.

After the match Mark stated: "I got lucky. The pink was ridiculous in the end, it was a ridiculous fluke. I knew it was in just as it passed the blue; I was in the line with it. I'm sick for Ryan for losing like that; it's not nice as I'm good friends with him."

The newly crown Indian Open champion, Michael White lost to Robert Milkins by 4-2 (victory supported by breaks like 62, 48 and 62), while Marco Fu and Ding Junhui lost to Mark Davis and Ricky Walden respectively, by 4-1.

The cue action continues according to the below schedule:

1pm
Neil Robertson v. Mark Davis
Matthew Selt v. Stuart Bingham

2pm
Ricky Walden v. Mark Williams
Joe Perry v. Judd Trump

7pm
Liang Wenbo v. Graeme Dott
Robert Milkins v. Ronnie O'Sullivan

8pm
Mark Selby v. Martin Gould
Stephen Maguire v. Peter Ebdon

*all hours are UK time